Aydrian woke peacefully with a long yawn. He reached outwards with his hands and legs, shaking a bit as he reached the apex of his stretch. With groggy eyes, Aydrian looked to his left at his clock to check the time. It read eight thirty-seven am.

School should have just start- Wait.

Right next to his alarm clock was a little Gameboy-esk object with a small post-it note attached. Aydrian stared at it with a surprised expression. Faint memories from years past began to grow clearer in his mind. After a couple seconds of staring, Aydrian blinked as he remembered the name of his all-time favourite video game.

Aezogoth: Magic Mania. It’s been so long since then I almost forgot!

He remembered it so quickly because it was the first video game he had ever played and it was a gift from his father. Consequently, it held a special place in his heart. Aydrian quickly sat up in his bed and reached forwards, grasping it with his hands. The plastic felt old and worn down, yet when he powered it on, it worked just the same.

The screen came to life, glowing with energetic colours and lights. As Aydrian stared, he felt an overwhelming sense of nostalgia. Before long, a simple but appealing two-dimensional background appeared behind a title. It displayed a sprawling landscape with huge swaths of trees seated on rolling hills. Behind those were tall grey mountains with white snowy peaks. Overlooking this pixelated landscape was a small human boy. He had brown hair, greenish eyes, and a skinny build. In his right hand was a black blade with purple engravings. It was almost as tall as the boy himself, so it was probably some sort of long sword. The pixelated character bobbed up and down in a repeating animation.

That character at the title screen made Aydrian recall even more of the game. Despite himself, Aydrian felt a smile creeping in on his face. Soon enough, he even remembered the first night he had gotten this. He hadn’t slept that night at all. The game was that addicting.

The story was pretty complex for a children’s game, but in short, It started out with the looming threat of an evil demon lord who wants to destroy the world. One boy sets out on an adventure to save the world from this evil demon lord. You go through multiple levels, beating each boss and its minions as they come and save people along the way. In the second level, you are hunting a boss monster. This boss monster attacks a village, and once you save it, a girl from that village follows you and helps you on your adventure. At the end of the game, these two people fall in love. Looking back on it now, it’s cliche, but child Aydrian ate it up. Eventually, you make you’re way to the final boss of the game, who turns out to be an old friend who turned evil. The friend is being controlled by the evil demon lord, and to free your friend, you have to defeat him. After defeating him, you face the spirit of the demon lord. Together, with you’re old and new friends, you defeat the demon lord and bring peace to the land. It ends with the girl and the main character getting married.

Aydrian had a feeling that the story is actually way more complicated, but that’s all he could remember. Apart from the story, the game was a 2d platformer, meaning you could only move left and right across the screen. At the start of the game, you only have a basic punch and kick, but as you defeat monsters, you absorb their mana. You can then use the mana you absorbed to upgrade your own skills and magic. You could put your mana into two categories, Mental or Physical. If you put mana into Physical, you would gain more health, speed, and strength. If you put your mana into Mental, you would grow your magic skills. The magic you gained fell under three categories, Runic magic, Spoken/Vocal magic, and Thought magic. Runic magic requires no activation time and are instantly cast, but are weaker as a result. One runic magic that Aydrian remembered using a lot was called accelerate. As the name implies, it shot you in one direction at a high speed. Aydrian usually only casts it to dodge an attack. Vocal magic is way stronger than Runic magic, but they require time to cast, ranging from ten seconds to a few minutes. One of the vocal magic’s Aydrian used was called Roaring Inferno, which sent a stream of fire forwards after eight seconds of casting. It would deal tons of damage by lighting the enemy on fire for twenty seconds. The last category is thought magic, the strongest type of magic in the game. Simply put, they are a combination of Runic and Vocal magic. Thought magic has the power of vocal magic with the instantaneous casting of runic magic. You can only get these near the end of the game because of how strong they are.

When he was younger, Aydrian only ever unlocked one Thought magic, Spatial Severance. The character in the game would summon a black blade with purple engravings. The purple engravings represent magic spells that have been etched onto the blade. They also symbolize the number of times you could swing the blade, which depends on how much mana you use the ability with. If you summoned the black blade with all your mana, you would gain 5 swings. If you summoned it with only a little bit of mana, you would only have one swing. As you attacked with the blade, the purple engravings would slowly disappear. Once you swung the blade for a final time, the purple glow on the engravings would completely vanish along with the blade.

As Aydrian recalled all these different thoughts and memories about the game, he couldn’t help but yearn to see that move again. Even after the years, the animation still remained fresh in his mind.

I wonder how long it would take me . . .

Aydrian knew he only had a few hours, but nevertheless, he was determined to get as far as possible. With a newfound determination in his eyes, Aydrian selected a start and made a new game. The game emitted a small musical jingle as he started his new adventure after all these years.

Time flew by way quicker than Aydrian realized. Soon enough, Femi entered the room with a smile. Three hours had gone by in what seemed like thirty minutes.

“Alright Aydrian, you’ve been cleared by the doc.”

“Already? I thought I had at least a few more hours. Time flies when you’re having fun.”

Femi blinked at Aydrian.

“Why am I not surprised that you enjoy coming to the hospital?”

Aydrian chuckled and waved off her concern.

“No, I’ve been playing an old game I used to play when I was younger. My dad got me it before he left.”

Aydrian made for the door without saying anything since he already knew the way out but stopped when Femi spoke again. Her tone seemed worried, even more so than usual.

“Before you go, please try not to hurt yourself. All of the staff worry about you, so please take care of yourself.”

Aydrian forced himself to smile and laugh.

“I’ll be careful this time, I swear. You don’t need to worry about me.”

As Aydrian left, Femi sighed and whispered to herself.

“That’s what you say every time. . .”

Aydrian took a deep breath as he exited the hospital. The air was fresh and cold, a nice change from the stale air of the indoors. There was something about a nice breeze that always made him feel better. Directly outside the hospital was a road, and across from that, a tall office building. The office building shone in the sun, its windows almost seemingly metallic. It was the only “city” building in Aydrian’s hometown, and as such, it stood the tallest. Surrounding that office building were various other small buildings, but none nearly as tall as it. Taking his first few steps forwards, Aydrian began to plan his route to his school, Terinson Highschool. It was about a mile across town, meaning he had a little way to go before reaching his destination.

Should only take about fifteen minutes or so.

As Aydrian walked through his hometown, he saw many familiar sights. Seated directly on the left of that tall office building was his favourite restaurant, Double Davids Pizza. Aydrian felt a strong yearning to go eat as soon as he saw it, but resisted. He needed to go to school and he was already late.

Aydrian crossed the street and took a right, walking next to that office building. Once he reached an intersection, he took a left. To his right, the occasional car would drive by, filling Aydrian’s ears with the background noise of tires on the paved road. However, Aydrian paid attention to none of this. Truth be told, he really wasn’t even really paying attention to what his eyes were seeing either. In other words, Aydrian was on autopilot because his brain was preoccupied with Aezogoth: Magic Mania. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked at it as he walked.

I wonder if I can unlock any other thought magic. Maybe if I try to get a different ending I can . . . no that wouldn’t work. I don’t think the route you take in the story affects your magic. Hmm . . . I bet I could unlock more thought magic from eliminating every single monster I find, even the optional ones . . . but that would take forever. Eh, screw it. It’s definitely worth it.

Aydrian would have kept brainstorming such thoughts if he had not accidentally bumped into someone. Aydrian’s shoulder jerked backwards as he was knocked off his balance. Aydrian stumbled backwards and accidentally dropped his game in the process. It fell to the pavement and bounced onto the street. Then, it slowly slid on a downwards slope into a sewer drain. Aydrian leapt for it but was too late. He cursed and slammed his hand on the sewer drain.

“Damn it!”

Aydrian returned to his feet and stared at the drain with a deep frown. After a moment, he heard a feminine voice speak to him from behind.

“I am so sorry! I didn’t see you-”

Aydrian, who was in no mood to talk to anyone now, interrupted her and walked away without even turning to look at her.

“It’s fine, just some rotten luck.”

However, she had other plans.

“Please wait!”

Aydrian turned around and saw a wad of money in the girl’s hand. The girl had black hair that reached down to her shoulders, blue eyes, and a small nose. She was only a few inches shorter than Aydrian, but for some reason, she seemed to stand a little bit taller. After a second, Aydrian took his eyes off her and stared at the money with a look of surprise on his face. The girl spoke again at Aydrian’s silence.

“Take it, I’m really sorry if that was important to you.”

Aydrian stared at the money and reached out his hand to grab it. However, right before he took it, he stopped himself.

I could take it but . . . They don’t even sell Aezogoth: Magic mania anymore, and what if she needs the money more than me?

As a second of hesitation passed, he pushed her hand away with a sigh.

“It’s fine. Things happen I guess.”

Aydrian then turned around again and left. Without anything to carry, he stuck his hands in his pockets and thought to himself.

Just my luck . . .No way I can get it back either. It just rained so the sewers are full of water

Aydrian arrived at school with a dark expression. He looked upwards at the sky. Dark storm clouds had gathered on the western horizon and were slowly becoming larger and larger as they travelled east. The weather was beginning to turn.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

Aydrian fished out a small card from inside his right pocket. This was his student ID, which allowed him to get inside the school. If he was suspended or expelled, the card wouldn’t work anymore. At the beginning of each class, he would swipe in and be counter present. If a student didn’t swipe into a class, they would automatically be counted absent. This way, teachers no longer had to worry about taking attendance. Once he was inside the building, he gazed upwards at a clock mounted on the wall. It read eleven fifty-seven. He was about halfway through lunch period right now, meaning he had about fifteen more minutes before he had an actual class. Since Aydrian had already eaten at the hospital, he wasn’t going to eat and had fifteen minutes to kill.

Aydrian began to wander the halls with his hands in his pockets. He absent-mindedly stared at the dark blue-tiled floor, thinking about Aezogoth: Magic Mania. He couldn’t get that game out of his head. He was addicted. Too bad he would never get to play it again, at least for the foreseeable future. Aydrian clenched his fists in frustration.

Why couldn’t I just keep my eyes up? If I had seen her I wouldn’t have run into her. Why do I always have to mess everything up!

Even though it was just a game, it held deeper meaning for Aydrian. Not only was it his favourite game, but it was also a gift from his father. He had lost it as soon as he got it. It was one of his most valuable possessions, and he had lost it.

With a loud bang, Aydrian slammed his fist into a random locker. The pain slowly radiated through his fist, bringing clarity to his mind. Far from making him uncomfortable, the pain was almost soothing. Aydrian had already gone through pain much worse just a few days ago when Ben had chased him into the forest. Compared to that, this pain only served to distract him, even if only for a short time.

Aydrian looked at his hand, which had already begun to turn red. The locker he had hit was slightly indented, but not enough to notice at a glance. Aydrian put his hands back inside his pockets and kept walking. Soon enough, three consecutive dings sounded off, one after the other. This was the passing period bell. Aydrian stepped into his class, and since he had no class to come from, he was the first one. He sat in his regular chair and relaxed. The teacher looked up at Aydrian from across the room for a moment before returning her eyes to her desk. After a moment, she spoke in a displeased tone of voice.

“You missed an essay and a test, Mr. Wentsworth.”

“I’m sorry, I’ll make them up after school today.”

The teacher gave Aydrian an exasperated look.

“How many times are you going to be out of school? Every other month you’re out for a week or two. Can you at least give me a warning next time you disappear for a week?”

Aydrian opened his mouth, but no words came out. If he said anything, Ben would have his head on a silver platter. Before Aydrian could think of an excuse, the teacher spoke once more.

“Actually, never mind. I don’t want to hear “I tripped and fell” for the tenth time.” Just please try not to miss any more days. I can’t keep giving you extensions.”

Aydrian nodded without saying anything. He didn’t trust his voice. A few minutes passed by, and more students began to trickle into class. Eventually, every seat was filled. With so many people talking to each other, a soft chatter filled the room. Particularly, Aydrian noticed that the loudest was Ben and his friend group, as usual. Five kids had all scooted their desks closer to Ben, who was talking in a loud, boisterous voice. Ben eventually caught his gaze, their eyes meeting. Aydrian quickly looked away, not wanting to draw his attention. That would be annoying if after class Ben decided to rough him up a bit.

The teacher stood up and was about to talk when one more student entered the classroom, one that Aydrian recognized. It was the girl he had bumped into on the street. She looked apologetically to the teacher and spoke.

“Sorry about being late, I had trouble finding this classroom. The map of the school is very confusing.”

The teacher smiled at her and responded.

“Indeed, the maps are not very intuitive. Irene Hall, I assume?”

Irene nodded.

“Well, I would say take a seat, but we have none-”

Ben quickly stood up and spoke.

“Here, she can take mine. I’ll go to the class next door and ask for an extra chair.”

The teacher beamed at Ben.

“Wonderful. Also, try not to wander the halls, Ben. We need to get the class started or I won’t have time to help everyone with their homework.”

The teacher gave Ben a knowing look. He smiled sheepishly before leaving. When he had left, she spoke once more.

“Well, you know who to blame today if we don’t get time for homework at the end of class.”

The class laughed a bit before settling down. Without Ben, the soft chatter slowly quieted close to silence. In this newborn soundless classroom, the faint sound of rain hitting the windows could be heard. Aydrian gazed out that window and saw that those dark clouds he had seen earlier had already reached this town. Aydrian was no weather expert, but he was still alarmed.

That’s strange, wouldn’t there have to be some kind of powerful wind to make the clouds reach here that fast? But when I was outside I didn’t feel any wind . . . eh, whatever. I should’ve taken environmental science I guess.

A few minutes went by, and the faint sound of rain had grown to a slight roar. The rain tapped on the glass relentlessly, making the teacher gaze outside with a questioning look on her face. She muttered something to herself that Aydrian couldn’t hear, but by reading her lips, Aydrian thought he saw her say “strange weather”.

Now that Irene had sat down, she was talking with all of Ben’s friends. For some reason, she kept stealing glances at Aydrian as if she wanted to say something. Aydrian pretended not to notice and kept staring out the window. Then, Ben came back with a chair in hand. He placed it down next to Irene and his five friends, then sat down. The teacher walked to the front of the room and spoke.

“Finally. Now, let’s get started-”

However, her voice was interrupted when the intercom sounded off. Usually, the intercom was used to announce things during the mornings, like football games or club meetings. Instead, a panicked voice quickly announced an emergency situation.

“All students and staff, please move away from any windows and orderly make your way to the gymnasium. This is not a drill, please move away from any windows and make your way to the gymnasium in an orderly fashion immediately.”

A silence fell over the classroom. Everyone had a confused look on their faces and gazed outside the windows. It was at this moment that everyone realized it was dark as night outside. Aydrian couldn’t see more than fifteen yards past the window. The teacher at the front of the room was the first to recover from confusion. She spoke to everyone in the room nonchalantly ushering them to the door.

“Well, you heard what they said.”

Aydrian sat up from his seat, slightly curious.

Maybe a hurricane? But wouldn’t they know about a hurricane at least a few days in advance?

Aydrian was first to the door when suddenly he felt a tingling on the back of his neck. Goosebumps spread down his arms and legs, and his hair stood on end. He felt his heartbeat widely inside his chest, and his whole body started to feel tingly. That sickly feeling, like someone was burning holes into his back with their eyes. It was the sensation of being watched by something dangerous.

Michael’s close to the window.

There was no time to think, as Aydrian acted on complete instinct. He didn’t understand how he knew, but he did. Whipping around, Aydrian sprinted towards the window, where one student hadn’t gotten up yet. The teacher looked at Aydrian questioningly and started to say something. Aydrian wasn’t listening. The whole class looked at Aydrian with confusion as he raced to that one student who was gazing outside.

However, everyone felt their hearts skip a beat as they saw what was standing outside the window. It was unnaturally tall, nearing three meters in height. Its whole body was brownish grey, like a rotting corpse. It was unnaturally skinny as if a skeleton had been wrapped in skin. Its fingers were like long daggers, each at least half a meter long and tipped with some crimson liquid. Its face was hidden from them, as it was too tall for the windows to fully capture its image. Despite this, Aydrian knew what it was. He had faced it many times before, just not in real life. Aydrian screamed a warning at the kid standing next to the window.

“DON’T MOVE!”

However, the kid didn’t listen. Whether that was because he couldn’t hear or was just too panicked, Aydrian would never know. The kid took a step backwards, and as soon as he did so, the glass shattered. That horrifically tall monster stabbed its dagger-like hands through the window and pierced the kid’s chest. As the monster retracted its hand, it left two daggers inside the boy’s chest. As Aydrian grabbed the kids hand, he knew it was already too late. The boy’s heart had most likely been pierced, but even so, Aydrian still tried to save him. Mustering all the strength he had, Aydrian threw the kid towards the door. He landed next a fair bit away, leaking blood all over the floor. Aydrian then faced that monster and prepared himself. He tuned everything out. His classmates screaming, his teacher yelling for everyone to leave, and that guy who had been cut moaning on the floor. None of it mattered. Aydrian watched as that monster slowly lowered its head to look at him.

Wimaic

That one word appeared in Aydrian’s mind when he saw its face. It had a normal human face, but without any eyes. Regardless, Aydrian knew it could see him. Its jaw slowly unhinged, opening unnaturally wide. Aydrian didn’t move, only bending his knees. His heart began to beat even faster, filling his body with adrenaline. Aydrian’s pupils dilated, and his hands began to twitch.

The Wimaic stopped moving and stared at him with its eyeless face. Then, it let loose a loud, screeching roar. It stepped into the room and advanced on Aydrian, trying to get him to move. Aydrian observed this beast. On its right hand, those two daggers it had detached were already growing back. Aydrian spoke shakily to his classmates.

“Don’t run. If we stand together we can scare it off.”

Aydrian didn’t turn around to see his classmates, but he hoped they would do as he said. The Wimaic was only a fearsome creature if you gave into fear. It wouldn’t attack large groups of people that didn’t run. However, if it was just one person, a windigo would still attack. Not running would only delay your death. However, Aydrian became alarmed.

Why don’t I hear anything?

Aydrian realized he couldn’t hear anything from behind him. Not a single breath or shifting of clothes. Absolute silence. Aydrian gritted his teeth and spoke again.

“Guys?”

Aydrian was given no response. Aydrian broke into a cold sweat.

I can’t kill it, and I won’t be able to scare it off without help . . . they didn’t leave me, right? No . . . they wouldn’t just leave me for dead . . . right?

Aydrian kept his eyes on the beast as it slowly inched forwards towards him. If he took a step backwards, it would see Aydrian as prey and kill him on the spot. If he took a step forwards, it would see him as a threat and kill him, maybe not immediately but it would still go after him. With this knowledge, Aydrian knew he was dead if he didn’t get help. A bead of sweat trickled down his neck.

They really left me? This is what I get for trying to save Michael!

Aydrian tightened his hands into fists, unsure of what to do. He had no options if he didn’t have help. At that moment, he formed a desperate plan. Aydrian sucked in a deep breath and stepped forwards while letting out the loudest scream he could muster. The beast flinched and stopped moving, and in that instant, Aydrian pushed off the foot he stepped forwards and leapt backwards.

Aydrian saw the kid he had tried to save, dead on the floor. In his chests were two windigo daggers. Aydrian grabbed both of them and instantly fell flat on his chest. Aydrian heard the sound of wind being cut directly above his head. Aydrian looked up as the beast was redirecting one of its hands down towards Aydrian. In response, Aydrian jerked his head to the right and slashed upwards with one of the claws.

The beast’s hand fell to the ground next to Aydrian’s head and didn’t move. Black blood sprayed all over Aydrian, coating his shirt with the smell of rotten eggs. Aydrian, knowing the beast had two arms and thus two attacks, quickly pushed himself to his feet and took a step forwards while keeping low to the ground. The beast’s other hand flew over Aydrian’s head, cutting a few hairs off the top of his head.

Once Aydrian had gotten close enough to the monster, he sunk both of his daggers into the beast’s chest.

The Wimaic released a deafening scream as Aydrian plunged the dagger even deeper into its chest. Aydrian felt his daggers reach something hard inside the beast’s chest and knew he had won. With one final push, something inside the beast broke. As the monster began to die, even more black blood sprayed on Aydrian, causing him to close his eyes momentarily. In this moment of weakness, the beast stabbed its claws into Aydrian’s back, piercing his heart.

The beast began to stumble backwards away from Aydrian, the two daggers still stuck inside its chest. Then, suddenly, its legs snapped in half as if they suddenly couldn’t bear the weight of the monster. It lay on the ground, unmoving in its own pool of blood.

Aydrian fell to his knees and tried to breathe.

He couldn’t. He couldn’t breathe.

After a few seconds, his whole body felt heavier than lead.

Aydrian collapsed to the floor and didn’t move

His ears began to ring, and it became harder and harder to hear his surroundings.

It’s so cold . . . I’m so tired . . .

His vision began to get blurry when suddenly, a man was standing over him. The man wore a black and green cloak and his body was impossible to see. In his hand was a small blue crystal, about the size of a baseball. It was covered with black blood, and stabbed into it was the two daggers Aydrian had used. The man removed the two daggers and then proceeded to shove the crystal down Aydrian’s throat.

Aydrian didn’t care. He swallowed the crystal and could hear the muffled yelling of the man above him.

I just want to rest . . .

Aydrian let death take him to that eternal sleep, and closed his eyes.