"Huuuurrghh..."

His head was bleeding. His school uniform soiled and dirtied. Walking with the wall as his crutch, he made his way into the light. After searching forever, Brian thought, he had finally made it. Through sheer determination, ability, and a bit of luck, he trumped the odds.

But most importantly, he survived.

"Huh?" Contrary to his thoughts, however, it appears that this was not the exit. Let alone, the end.

No. He was greeted with the sight of a small forest, inside what appeared to be a dome made out of shiny blueish crystals. Even from afar, Brian could see glints of different— yet stunningly beautiful— colors.

"...HAHAHAHA!!!" From a distance, Brian could hear someone laughing deliriously.

"Impending death, of course! Danger lurks among you. I can smell it." Its voice was deep and obscure as it spoke. "Especially on the skin."

Curious, Brian crept closer, standing behind a tree for coverage. Taking a small peek, his eyes went wide open. Everyone from school was here, including the teachers. He thought he was alone when he appeared in that tree, but when he met Brandon, he found that the people in his class appeared as well. But only, when he was here, did he realize the full extent of the 'Blink' incident.

Yet everyone seemed scared. Fearful, even. It was obvious that they were circling something, but he couldn't see it. Although they were standing at a very open space, the crowd was still too dense.

"Ehehehe," He chuckled at a joke that seemed like only he would understand, "As promised, I shall promptly announce now... a small little prophecy. A divination, if you will."

Brian started climbing up a tree. Even with a vertigo, he could still manage something as simple as this.

"All will starve. The search for food will be met with death."

"My gifts will corrupt only the weak. Men will be consumed by power."

Reaching just high enough, he was able to see... Oh my god.

"Factions will form. The innocent will die. Wars will be razed."

"The flesh will lust. Sex will be free. Women will be mere symbols."

A creature made of thorns, wearing a crown made out of spikes. Its voice wasn't loud, but it echoed through everyone just because of how silent everything was. It showed its teeth as it smiled, stretching it into unbelievable proportions. Yet, it hadn't moved it a single bit as it spoke.

"And lastly, yet... so excruciatingly important. So important for you to remember..." Everyone tensed as he said so. "Don't forget your warm beds and your hot showers. They're really important!"

No one could tell if he was being serious or not.

"..."

"But oh! Remember, children. No matter how much my gifts may seem funny to you." Just when you thought it was impossible, its smile stretched further. "They really. Really. Aren't."

"..."

"Getting quiet already? Well, don't mull over it just because I sent you here for my own enjoyment."

"Oh, those who have been chosen by yours truly should attribute their points already. You're making me tired. Truly. With my gifts, your destinies are surely bright, you'll make great leaders, I can assure you. " It said with a tone so blatantly sarcastic.

"W—What about us?!" A random boy with freckles said, "We're not chosen or acknowledged!"

"If you weren't chosen nor acknowledged then you're out of luck. Your quality is simply trash."

"Enough introductions, my job here is done." Yawning, the mysteriously playful but spiky creature said. "I'll be watching you all from now on. Don't disappoint me. Goodbye."

Exuding a black smoke from its mouth, his whole figure was quickly enshrouded with it. Before anyone knew what happened, it was already gone.

----------------------------------------

All the teachers had gloomy faces after listening to the thorny creature and were currently discussing something important. The students, however, all minded their own business. Mostly in maximum chatterbox mode about what had happened.

Some of the younger guys were crying. Some of them were even discussing conspiracy theories about the whole thing. Some of them were talking about how scary that spiky creature was. Some of them were talking about how beautiful those crystals were Some of them were talking about something else entirely (as though everything wasn't even concerning enough for them). The list goes on.

But what was most concerning to Brian right now, was a peculiar discussion happening amongst the nerds. Talking fanatically— almost enthusiastically— about how all of this was like a videogame.

Now, this piece of information came in quite astonishing to young Brian, so he was very determined on eavesdropping them.

"Dude, this is totally like Skyrim man! All the stats?! he abilities? The points system?! The quests?! You're so fucking lucky dude."

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"No you Deattthh Knoob," A nerdier young man said. He had braces, "It's more like World of Warcraft. Though, I suppose a bit of it is—"

"No, you idiots. You are clearly not chosen." Another nerd with a cape on shook his head. "This... this is a lot more like Dungeons&Dragons. The progenitor of WoW. The great ancestor of Skyrim. The father to all future MMO and MMORPG games."

"Bow to the Dungeon Master." One of them said.

"No. You're wrong." He shook his head again with his deep profound look, "Bow to the Red Dragon."

All the nerds bowed in unison. Brian didn't know what kind of game Dungeons&Dragons, or WoW, or Skyrim, or World of Warcraft was. Though he had a sneaking suspicion that it all had something to do with their situation here. Squinting his eyes, he paid closer attention.

"Now, watch." The Dungeon Master went silent. The other nerds followed suit. Growing in anticipation. "Status."

A holographic yellow screen appeared in front of him. Displaying words, numbers, and other things that Brian couldn't see from his angle. Everything was flipped from his perspective. If he tried hard enough, he could read it. But if he'd be making himself more suspicious if he stared at them like that.

All the nerds started clapping at the Dungeon Master.

"Status." He said under his nose.

"..."

Nothing happened.

It looks like he wasn't chosen. That's a shame. Oh, wait. Maybe it's because he wasn't there before. When that creep started talking, Brian was still trying to find the exit. So maybe it wasn't able to choose him. But then again, maybe not. He couldn't really make any conclusions about it.

"Uuuhh..." Brian sighed.

His vertigo was getting better. Tripping in the cave was a mistake on his part (It was slippery!). At least he was able to get a thing or two from this eavesdropping session. One being the system, and the other being the 'Blink' incident (As Brian would coin it).

Apparently, most of the people from his school were transported here, in this forest of some kind. While he and his class, however, were transported into their own demise. Brian was still a bit pale from the scene, but feigning ignorance was a wonderous thing.

He thought Brandon had also been quite good at it. Though, if it weren't for him panicking back there, he probably wouldn't have left him.

Grabbing his bag, he left the crowd and went into the forest. He made— yet another mental note— to count how many people survived. He had a lot of mental notes to cover today.

Recalling the little prophecy, Brian frowned.

"I need to find food. That's a given. But how?" Brian racked his brain for answers as he started writing in his notebook.

He thought of a few ways of getting food, but he currently had three problems.

  1. Brian didn't know if the food he was getting was safe to eat.

  2. Brian didn't have safe means of getting the food.

  3. Brian didn't have a safe way to store food. Otherwise, he'll get robbed.

And these were just a few problems with getting food. He hadn't thought of the other things he had to think about yet. There were too many variables, and too many of the kind he couldn't see. Unlike most of his classmates, Brian knew how horrible things could get just without food. Just imagining it made his spine shiver.

"I should focus on gathering enough people to make a group first, though." Brian nodded, "That'll increase my chances of finding food and my chances of survival."

After writing everything in his book, he hid everything else inside the hole of a normal-looking tree. Taking his flip knife out, he wrote a small but inconspicuous little sign on the tree. Just in case he forgot.

After finishing his third errand of the day, he went back to the crowd. Hopefully, no one had noticed that his bag was suddenly missing. He didn't want more trouble from something that was meant to keep it away.

"BRIAN!!!" He heard a high-pitched yell coming from the crowd. "WHERE'S BRIAN!!!"

"Ugh, great. Someone screaming my nickname in the middle of a crowd. Just the thing I need." Brian hissed in frustration. He made a mental note to deal with this situation with his 'nickname'.

Walking out of the shadow of the trees, Brian could see her perfectly. Too perfectly, in fact.  She was partly naked, her shirt almost completely out of the way. He could even see her ripe youthful nipples and those perfect D-Cups. Her thighs with that blue skirt just barely hanging. Her brown hair was messy. Her skin was grazed and dirty. Yet, her eyes had this certain determined look.

Even though she wasn't in the middle, everyone was staring at her with gaping eyes.

Most of the girls stared at her with disgust. Talking about how she was such an exhibitionist. The boys and even some of the men, however, were a different case. Some were stoic about it, trying to get her to calm down (She threatened to kick his balls if he didn't stay back). But most of them, though, were just enjoying the arousal from the view.

"God, she's such a slut. Look, she's not even ashamed."

"I mean, a dirty slut is always a dirty slut you know?"

"I always knew Kayl was an exhibitionist. In class, I saw her..."

---

"Ooooh, shit man. Look at her tits!!! Now that's fukin quality."

"I wonder what happened with her back though..."

"Who cares? Check out her skirt hanging on her ass like that. You don't see that every day!"

"Even though she's dirty dude? Sorry, no."

---

"Damn, cockroaches," Brian muttered in contempt.

—But that wasn't even the issue. If those slash scars on her back were really from those monsters earlier, then that means she was among the girls that got captured by them earlier (Maybe). And that in turn, also means Brandon had partially succeeded in his part. Even if he didn't get to save Susan, that idiot was still a hero.

"I should get him to join my group when I see him." Brian nodded to himself, "Courage is good. A bit too sudden with his righteous, but that has its benefits as well."

With a plan in mind, it was time to execute it.

"Hi, sorry." He yelled at her with apologetic eyes. Everyone looked at him. "You're Kayl, right? My name's Sam! Are you looking for Brian?"

Granted, blurting out his name immediately like that was a mistake. He made more mental notes in his head to practice acting in different modes.

Kayl turned to him with beaming eyes.

"YOU KNOW BRIAN?!?" She asked, her face going through many different emotions. It was hard to say what they were.

"Yes, we've been friends for a long time." Brian decided to keep it as vague as possible, "What is it you wanted to tell him?"

She suddenly started crying, not knowing what to say first, she blurted out what came into mind.

"Brandon saved me from those monsters..." She clenched both her fists and her teeth as she said so. Her tears flowing. "Those monsters... after they killed Mr.Abe, they started killing everyone... they laughed after Cassimir died... they laughed when they got Susan... and after they got me, they were laughing when they... they..."

"..." She paused. Collecting herself, before continuing,

"...they raped me."

"...they raped Susan."

"...they fucked and screwed and banged everyone on the floor until we could hardly fucking move."

"...we kept screaming for help. For someone to come. Even going as low as begging for them to stop."

Everyone was speechless.

The weight of everything when she said that. It couldn't be described with words. She looked awful. The bloodstain on her ripped uniform. The pain and struggle she had to go through to get here. Suddenly, everyone could see it. Suddenly, everyone could see that her tears weren't that simple.

To the boys, she didn't look so arousing anymore. They were even feeling guilty of themselves. Even rubbing some of her hatred towards the things that attacked her. To the girls, they stopped gossiping about her as she shared her heartfelt emotions.

"Then Brandon came." She smiled as she said his name, "He came in to save us. He came in with only a flashlight and a sword, and... he saved me." Her eyes sparkled with more indescribable emotion.

Right, as he expected. Brandon was still alive. He had some gut to jump into danger like that and survive like that. But that experience would definitely benefit him if he wasn't crippled already.

"But after I left, I heard him struggling. Screaming and yelling... Then I heard them laughing again." Her face wrinkled in sadness and frustration, "Brandon's dead."