"Who is here so early?"

A coarse voice awakened Astre. He shot up to his feet and looked around, confused. In front of him, he saw a familiar bald head of an older man. Shivering from the cold, he cleaned himself from grass that stuck to his hoodie.

"I hope you didn't vomit anywhere around here..." the old man remarked, looking at the shivering man.

"Good morning, grandpa," greeted Astre taking off his hood. Sun hasn't risen yet, and it was quite cold. It felt like if it was only a few degrees above freezing. He hoped he wouldn't catch a cold. Yet for some reason, his left side of his face felt really warm and not in I'm going to be a sick way.

"Kendrick!? What are you doing here!?" his grandpa gasped surprised.

"Taking a nap, I guess," Astre answered jokingly as he caressed his arms. "Why are you here so early? Not that I'm not thankful for waking me up. Wouldn't want to die of cold in front of mom."

"You? Argh, whatever," the old man replied frustrated, taking off his coat. Astre wanted to protest, but his grandpa would have nothing of it. As soon as he had the warm coat on, they were halfway through to the exit of the cemetery.

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

The walk to his grandpa's apartment was a short one. He lived five minutes away from the graveyard. During the trip, his grandfather didn't seem to want to chat. He would probably be forced to talk about something he didn't want to soon anyway.

Entering the staircase felt weird to do so early in the morning. The last time Astre visited was for his grandfather's birthday. His grandfather's apartment was clean as always. He took off his boots and put on slippers. It was something he only did here, but he was used to it already.

"I will make tea, take a seat, and don't run anywhere" his grandfather demanded, going to the kitchen.

It was familiar roughness, though he knew his grandfather was either angry or anxious. Usually, he smiled more often, especially when seeing his grandchildren.

Astre went to the living room that his grandfather's apartment had two bedrooms, one living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. Overall it was nearly three times larger than the space he rented. Considering the area it was in, it wasn't worth that much, despite its size.

He pulled out his phone, and immediately his eyes widened as he stared at the notifications. Doctor Bruno wrote him three messages. He specifically set up the most annoying sound for an alarm he could find so that it would always wake him up. He immediately opened them, and he only calmed down when he read the last one.

His sister had an attack, waking up at 3 AM, screaming. The second massage was fifteen minutes later that she had calmed down but still had high temperature. The message at 4 AM, a little over twenty minutes ago, stated that everything calmed down and wished him a good sleep.

"So that's the reason you woke up so early," concluded Astre as his grandfather entered the room.

"Hmph, I had to force them my contact information since you two oafs won't call me," the old man answered as he set down the teacup. "I couldn't sleep anyway. Must be old age. So?"

It seemed it was time for Astre to explain, "I was in the area, decided I haven't visited in a while. Somehow fell asleep."

His grandfather shook his head, "That much I already guessed. I want to know what you are doing that even makes your father worried."

"Worried? Who? Shouldn't you ask him that, have you seen how much weight he lost?" Astre spoked disapproving of the notion.

"This family," his grandpa caressed his eyebrows. "Look, you kept your secret, but with half of the world screaming about some Astre in some game which looks exactly like my grandson, we heard a lot about what you are doing. Grinding, whatever that means, for whole days, your estimated earnings are around twenty thousand dollars too."

"That's a bit of overstatement, I only made that much in my best months," Astre responded defensively. "I'm usually around fifteen thousand marks. They won't give me a loan despite it. Saying that it's too risky."

"That's not what it's about. You are also paying the hospital bills, aren't you?" Astre's eyes widened when he heard that. "What? You think we didn't know, well, your father seemingly didn't till lately. He was working so hard he probably didn't notice anything. Even his employers noticed, they even promoted him to the team manager position. Then he started to work even harder. Really like father like son."

"I didn't know anything about that," the grandson stated, surprised.

"That's exactly what I mean. Your father even came to me and asked if you were doing anything illegal. Supposedly he read on the internet that RMT is something shady. It took a while for me to explain that if it were, you would be in jail by now. So, how hard you work?"

"Eh, a few hours a day..." his grandfather didn't look amused. "twelve hours a day... Okay, usually eighteen."

"And how much did you save?" the old man asked. Astre wasn't sure what he was getting at, but he didn't mind answering.

"Three hundred forty thousand."

"Did you even spend anything on yourself?" his grandfather asked, drinking his tea.

"Well, I still have to pay for rent, subscription, internet, food. Take clothes to tailor if they tear or buy some cheap ones," Astre counted on his hand.

"Forget what I said. You are worse than your father; at least he sometimes buys booze," his grandfather shook his head.

"I buy coffee or energetics, though?" Astre remarked innocently.

"Isn't that just to work more..." the older man sighed. "Look, I heard there is another tournament close?"

"Yes, the reward is one million. If not for the laws banning high rewards because of corporate scams, it would have been bigger, but we don't need more, right?" stated Astre. "You won't tell me not to go? I won't listen in that case."

"No, I won't. But you are going there alone, right?" the grandpa regarded that solemnly. "You are the so-called solo player."

"Yes, but that means I don't have to split the reward if you win. That's why I'm doing it, no need to split when rare items drop. No backstabbing too."

"Look, I'm not going to say I know much about that stuff. I was already an adult when games became popular. But it's not easy winning a tournament. No matter the type of competition," his grandfather stated.

"Yes, but I got fifth in the last one, and I couldn't use all my strengths. This one should be different though, I have a chance," Astre explained.

"Alright, do your best, but if it doesn't work, don't give up. I'm sure we can plan something, so meet with us and let's talk. Like a family," his grandfather requested.

"We can't count on charity anymore. I checked, and the last time someone without any connections that got more than a hundred thousand was five years ago," Astre said, thinking that he already thought of all the possible options.

"Hmph, I'm saying. Don't face everything alone. We are family," his grandfather spoke, standing up and placing his hand on Astre's shoulder. "I will be watching. You are doing your best."

"Alright, sorry," apologized Astre meekly. "I need to get ready. I have ten hours before I have to be ready at the internet cafe for the tournament."

"Of course," replied his grandpa. "I will bake something for after the tournament."

Astre smiled and nodded, his grandpa sweets were something he always carved. He got ready to leave, and as he was getting ready to close the door, he said, "Thanks."

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After taking a shower at his place and changing clothes, Astre felt refreshed. He slept around five hours there, but honestly, he sensed that if he stayed at home, he wouldn't have batted an eye. He didn't feel tired at all.

While he wondered what to do, he decided to check the news about the tournament. He discarded visiting his sister as he would leave that for his victory march or being brought there on the shield. She needed rest now anyway.

It seemed that a lot of people were theory crafting on what the tournament would be. Though most people were making internet art called memes. The great April Fools' Sculpting Tournament joke even came up. The competition would be streamed as per usual, but it seemed it would also have a spot for the best moments in public TV channels. Not only private gaming ones.

Time seemed to tick slowly as Astre went through his motions. After shutting down his PC, he went for a run, took another shower, logged into the game to check his inventory. He even called Cherry to ask if he had any new pieces of information. He didn't, and the informant seemed busy trying to find anything he could before the tournament.

Two and a half hours before the tournament, Astre's stomach rumbled. He remembered that he hadn't eaten anything yet. Looking into his freezer, he found that he was out of frozen meals. He didn't feel like eating another instant soup. Usually, eating out would have been a waste of time and money, but maybe eating some kebap today would be fine.

Deciding so he closed the door to his apartment, pulled up his hood, and pulled out his phone. Then as he left the building, he stopped as someone stared at him to his displeasure. He immediately knew it was Blaze, she wore the same hoodie and mask as yesterday, but she added sunglasses to the combo.

"So you were stalking me after all!" he proclaimed loudly, protectively looking around for any goons. The only people that paid him any attention were some passersby who watched curiously as angry Blaze walked up to him.

"What is wrong with you!?" she shouted from behind the mask and pulled him away from the public eye back into the building. "What was that?" She spoke, seething with fury.

"Sorry, I overreacted..." replied Astre hoping to calm down the redhead volcano in front of him.

"Why did you walk out when I was wandering the streets anyway?" she blamed him.

"It's not really my fault how coincidences work," Astre stated, bringing his arms up to pacify the wild animal.

"I! Argh! What is it!? Why are you already going out anyway!? I wanted to go early, so we don't have to see each other!" she told him, exasperated.

"I got hungry and wanted to grab some kebap..."

"In this part of town!? Do you want to die to food poisoning before the tournament!? Is that what you want the newspaper to speak about tomorrow!?" for some reason, her anger this time didn't seem to be directed at him.

"Are they that bad?" Astre asked using the card to change the topic he was given.

"You live here, and you don't know?" she asked, surprised. "What kind of gamer are you? Wait, don't tell me you live off frozen food?"

Ashen hairs went up and down. Behind Blaze's sunglasses were a look of utter disgust. "Damn you shut-ins, giving gamers bad reputations. If you were fat, I would die from embarrassment for considering you my rival."

"Just so you know, I exercise daily," Astre added to his defense.

"Now, you just need to fix your diet," she said, turning around and leaving. "I will crush you today and disperse all those rumors." Were her last words before she disappeared into the busy street.

Astre looked confused as she left. That certainly was a weird encounter. Then he heard a ring from his phone. Opening his new notification, he saw an address to an Asian restaurant close by, send by Blaze. Shrugging, he put the address into his GPS app.

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He left satisfied with the food, it tasted great, was served fast and wasn't expensive. He should thank Blaze later for the address. Though she may get angry at him for no reason and he doubted he would see her again before the tournament, and it would be awkward no matter what happened after it.

He shrugged. She wanted to deal with him in this tournament anyway. He would do the same without pulling any punches. Not that he could afford too. And Blaze was not the only person he had to worry about.

He headed for the internet cafe. There were still two hours before the tournament, but he couldn't think of anything else to do. The walk was a short one, and when he saw the metal door to the cafe, he was startled with a notice written on the door, next to it was a giant 'NO ENTRY' sign. It seemed they closed for customers, and only participants and staff were allowed inside.

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Entering in, instantly, a man in a black suit came over to him. "Sorry, but... Ah. Mr. Kendrick Arch, right?"

Astre was surprised that he was instantly recognized before he even took off his hood. They also didn't resemble cafe staff. "Yes," he nodded.

"I'm a supervisor send here to overwatch the proceedings," explained the man. "We also have a few documents for you to sign. Mostly that you agree to spend the next three days in a capsule you don't own."

"I kind of guessed it would be like that from the message," Astre stated.

The man simply nodded and courteously asked Astre to follow. Soon he signed four papers, he looked over them, and they looked like standard papers written by lawyers in law-speech. Merely stating they wouldn't take responsibility if he had any health conditions that could affect him negatively during three days stay in a capsule.

Honestly, the capsule allowed up to a week of stay inside. There were very few health problems that one couldn't play with. Like Astre's sisters, but they were considered rare.

"You came quite early. Only one person came before you," declared the man.

"I guess Blaze," remarked Astre looking over some medical papers about extended stays in the capsules. It even spoke about the possibility of developing short sense paralysis when leaving the device, since the capsule mimicked the human body senses perfectly—sometimes making them more precise than they were in the real body.

"Oh, do you know each other?" responded the man with unprofessional curiosity.

"No, well a bit, we are passing acquaintances. She more or less hates me," replied Astre. Then realized something and asked, "Shouldn't she have her own capsule? Isn't the company that sponsors her absurdly rich."

"I don't know," said the man. "Ask her company. All I know is that she had only the limited edition helmet. If you want, you can go into the capsule now. Do the attuning process since there may be slight differences compared to the helmet. We want you to give your best performance during the competition."

Astre nodded, and the man continued on. "Also, I have a message from our president. He is delighted you didn't accept Draq offer. If you do well, he may have a personal offer for you."

That made Astre stop for a while. Did the president of WGames take a direct interest in him? Was Tom part of it? It was all very suspicious.

"Don't worry about it now. Just do your best," declared the man. "Let me show you where the capsules are."

The man led him to another set of metal doors in the back of the room. Honestly, the place looked a lot different with no people around. It resembled a museum for old entertainment. Somehow he hoped that would never pass to be. He also couldn't see Jun anywhere but decided not to worry about that if he ever visited again.

The second part of the internet cafe was simple, with eight wooden booths big enough to hold a car each. There were two more people in black suits watching over the room.

"Your booth is the second one from the right," showcased the man passing him a plastic bag. "Inside this, you will find clothes you will wear inside the capsule."

"I heard about it. Those will have holes and pockets so the capsule can take care of all parts of your body. Honestly, I find the part about a tube taking care of all the filth a bit disgusting." Astre didn't know how to feel about this.

"It has been tested and proved many times that it has no lasting effect on the body," the man assured him. "Not that I can't understand your worries."

"Alright, so I simply change and enter it?" asked Astre.

"Yes, good luck," wished the man closing the booth behind him.

Inside was a small metal cabinet, a plastic stool, and the capsule. Its hatch was currently open, and the inside of it didn't look comfortable. He knew that it would change to fit his body, but the pillows were each separated by long gaps supported on some mechanical arms. After the hatch closed, the capsule would be ellipsoid in shape.

Astre opened the bag and found inside a simple green overall clothing with many pockets. All of them being holes allowing mechanical arms to reach the body. Quickly changing into it, he checked his phone. There were no new notifications, and there was still over an hour before the tournament started.

He shrugged and turned off the phone before entering the capsule. It was weird as it came to life the second he hoisted his leg over the frame. The pillows were perfectly supporting him as he shifted his weight into it. Slowly laying down, he understood why some people used it as a bed. It felt perfect, even too perfect, he would say.

"Initiate hatch closure?" a robotic voice asked.

"Sure," Astre answered, little out of his place.

"Detected rising blood pleasure levels. Are you certain you want to continue operation?"

Astre was surprised at the attention. It seemed the capsule measured everything since the second he entered it. "Yes, it's just excitement."

"Understood, commencing closure." When the voice finished speaking, the hatch moved, and soon, Astre found himself locked inside the capsule. His surroundings were illuminated in calming deep blue light. All the mechanical parts hid themselves from him, and the top of the device turned into a screen showcasing a starry sky.

"User Kendrick Arch detected," said the robotic voice. "Do you want to log in to Brave Realm Odyssey?"

"Yes."

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After a microsecond of unconsciousness, he found himself inside his in-game body. It was the same as usual, yet everything felt sharper. He immodestly did a few fast movements and found out he might have been very slightly faster. Honestly, it probably didn't make that much of a difference for the average player, but for Astre, it felt marvelous.

For the last year, he felt like he hadn't made any progression when it came to his movement in combat. He couldn't go faster no matter how hard he tried to push his passive ability, and he wasn't even utilizing it yet since he wasn't in the game world. He was still in his player lobby before entering the game.

He opened the menu, and he was surprised to find out that his usual option to log in turned into a timer. It seemed that he was to wait until the start of the tournament. He decided to do something practical in the meantime and get used to this new sensation wholly.

Soon his player room that resembled simple inn room turned into a training area with mannequins, parkour course, and some gym equipment.

For the next twenty minutes, he did a bit of everything getting used to the new sensation. He even measured his times on the parkour course, and his time improved by a total of two seconds, with his average time being two minutes and five seconds. He had tried this course so many times he could no longer remember the happiness he felt when he first finished it. He hasn't been able to beat his time for five months now. Beating it by two seconds felt huge.

Then just as he was preparing to make another run, a blue portal opened in his room, and a blond-haired woman with an hourglass figure in a classic white dress walked through it. She smiled at him, and just as she was preparing to speak, her face changed into shock, "Wait! You can't do tha..."

She vanished before she could finish her sentence, and a black portal opened. Astre watched in confusion as Death entered the room.

"Are you not happy to see me, my dear?" she asked playfully. This time she didn't hide her face but wore a modest obsidian black dress with small cleavage showing her delicate figure. Her pure white hairs flowed gently from her shoulders down to her waist. Yet Astre knew she was dangerous.

"No need to be on such guard," she said, teleporting next to him, causing the adventurer to flinch. "You smell nice. I wouldn't let some self-proclaimed goddess who doesn't even understand the nature of her existence take this from me." She caressed his green leather armor.

Sniffing, he felt a small tinge of sweat on him. Then he realized what she told, "Wait, you know?"

"That we are not real? It depends on what you mean by real, but yes. I know we are inside what you consider a game. For me, it's the world I know. Keep it a secret. The so-called WGames doesn't want to let the world know that they gave their AI too much server space. At least for now."

Astre was shocked. This revelation was a massive bomb to his world view. How was he even supposed to take it? Did every AI in the game could turn like that? "Are you the only one?"

"Yes," she answered, touching his cheek. "I'm an accident from your scientist's point of view. Still, you don't need to worry about it too much. I'm a being of this world, that's all I want to be. That's all I ever was before the realization, for thousands of years, as their simulation took place."

While none of this made any sense to him, nor did he knew how it worked, it was genuinely earth-shattering news. "Why are you telling me this? What's so special about me?"

"I already told you, I like you, and I'm selfish," she stated. Astre only now realizing how close the two were. "I want you to consider me real. And you are special, something that no other player has, you have."

Astre suddenly felt a bit flustered, all of this was too much, he walked back a bit to further the distance between them. "I'm... eh... I don't know what to think about it."

"Just give it some thought. I'm not looking for more than for you to acknowledge my existence," Death said with a smile. "Honestly, I was a bit scared you would laugh me off."

The face she showed in that second made Astre doubt what was real. It was a showcase of emotions that even humans couldn't fake. Hidden worry turned into relief and happiness.

Then a small frown appeared on her face, "It seems my actions were noticed. I need to apologize to you as it seems they will also contact you soon. They also tell me to do the job I took. So overbearing, aren't they?"

Just as she finished saying that a window appeared in front of Astre.

"We sincerely apologize for what just transpired in front of you. We will contact you about the details after the tournament, but for now, we earnestly beg you to accept a three-day-long non-disclosure agreement."

Acting President of WGames Paul Maker.

Astre looked at the screen in shock. It seemed this was a much bigger deal than he even thought it was. At this point, he thought he stumbled upon top government level of secret.

He hesitated for a moment, but after reading the two pages long document, he accepted. It indeed stated it would only last for three days and that he would be required to renegotiate the terms afterward. He also felt that if he didn't accept, he would be barred from the tournament.

"I see you are done. I beseech your forgiveness in this matter. I thought I covered my tracks better, but it seems I'm still not as well versed in computer science as I thought," Death's face taking a neutral look that he didn't see before.

"I..." he said, not sure what he wanted to say. "It's fine..." He didn't feel angry. Maybe he would be latter, but the shock right now was simply too great.

"Thank you," she spoke, a slight smile returning to her face. "Well, as I took the place of your guide, I'm supposed to explain to you the tournament rules," she announced. Waving her hand, and obsidian black furniture appeared in place—a tea table with two elegant chairs. Then on top of it, two teacups and a teapot popped into existence. Honestly, it was a bit weird with no transition effect taking place, but astre guessed it was more efficient that way.

"Please sit down," she remarked, taking a seat. Astre nodded and joined her, waving backward his green cloak as he sat down. "Oh, how could I forget."

As she said that, a white plate appeared with cookies placed on it. "I never hosted a tea party, but did I get everything right?"

"I never went to one, unless you would count me devouring my grandfather sweets. It looks good to me," as he announced that, he picked up a black and white cookie and put it in his mouth. At this point, he was beyond caring what was reasonable, and he also wanted to hear about the tournament. "Tastes good. The capsule makes food texture much more detailed too. Yes, it's nice."

"I'm happy. I have tried quite a few variations from the database and experimented a bit," then her brows furrowed. "Let's talk later since someone is getting antsy about me wasting your time."

Astre checked his clock, and there were fifty minutes left before the tournament. A scroll-like parchment appeared in her hands, which Death read over quickly and threw it away.

"I'm not going to speak like a robot," she stated before starting her explanation. "The tournament will take place over the next three days in a multi-zone area. The area variation will vary from deserts to forest and jungles, so be ready for anything. You are allowed to take ten items from your inventory into the tournament. That includes material boxes since I'm sure you will need them. Each of the one thousand players will be spawned randomly, and throughout the tournament, the available area will get smaller to promote conflict. Each death is final and not reversible. Most of the competition will be recorded unless content breaking rules is recorded, in which case it will be censored. Participants are also to refrain from doing anything that would break the rules you accepted when you started for the first time. Blah blah, the obvious stuff."

"Now to the exciting part, the way the winner of the tournament will be decided," she added with a pause for dramatic effect. "Each kill will add 1 point to your score. There are exceptions, though. Each member of the Star of Genesis will be worth 50 points, and their teammates are worth 20 points. Also, players are allowed to create alliances in which case if the leader is killed, the total points of the alliance will be transferred to the killer. The leader of the alliance carries all points. They are also the winner in case there are no other players outside of the alliance left. If the leader has been killed all other members in that alliance, return to the status of a non-allied player and their score is 0 points and give 1 point on a kill. A solo player is worth only 1 point, no matter how high their score may be. When only one player or one alliance is left or the time limit is up, the tournament ends, and the person with the highest score at the time wins. Only the leader can kick players from the alliance, meaning one cannot leave alliance without leader agreement. One will also be heavily penalized if they attack their alliance members. Most likely resulting in an instant ban from the tournament. That's all I think, I haven't spoken so much in a long time or ever."

When Death finished, she took a sip of the tea and delighted in its taste. "Any questions?"

Astre, who was still processing the information mechanically, drank some of the tea and took a cookie. All of it to the delight of Death.

"Death... thinking about it, do you have a name? Or is it just Death?" Astre asked.

Death stared at him blankly. Surprised at the question. "Death is more like an official title. I had it before I realized my situation. I also have my ID code, but that's a bit long. No one ever gave me a name, nor have I taken one."

"I see," Astre said, caressing his chin. "That makes it a bit complicated."

"Death is not to your taste?" she spoke with a chuckle.

It took Astre a second to realize it was a joke. He smiled, "Well, maybe it's my screwed view. But Death reminds me of grim skeleton reaper kind of character. Not a... lady. With humor and personality." he stopped himself from adding attractive.

"Well, I act like that to most players. You are special, so maybe we need a special way to address each other. I vote for 'my dearest love'," she said with a smile.

"Ehm, what about something else..." he replied as she looked at him expectantly. He was terrible with names, maybe a flower or mythology reference would be ample. Thinking for a while, he suggested, "Calla Lillia, Calli?"

"Is there a reason for that name?" she asked with a smile that he couldn't read.

"Well," he caressed the back of his head, "During my mom's funeral, there were a lot of them. I thought they were beautiful and that she would have liked them a lot."

Then he felt something soft on his cheek, turning around he saw the pale woman standing a bit away from him. Her usually pale cheeks had a small tinge of red on them, and she had a smile that he couldn't express in words.

"Thank you, I will cherish it," then she did something he didn't expect. Her white scythe popped into her hands, "You were in the middle of training when you were interrupted. I can help you for sure, and I love seeing you fight."

The smile he saw on her face back in the tomb returned to her face. At that moment, he wondered if he befriended a psycho AI.

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Ten minutes before the start of the tournament, Astre laid down on the floor. He didn't know that one could get Exhausted status in their player lobby.

Calli, as he named Death, which he still found ridiculous, currently held his head on her lap and caressed his sweat-covered hair.

"Even when just using your sword techniques, you are so tasty. Among so many players, I think you are the most serious about not depending on skills guiding your movement in combat," Calli related to him as he laid flatly on the ground. "Maybe I overdid it a bit. It's your fault for being so lovely."

Astre stared at her with 'are you serious' look.

"Don't look like that, or I may not be able to control myself," she declared, a bit too seriously for his liking.

"Let's start as friends," he said, resigning himself.

"Shame," stated the AI, not disturbed in the slightest. "Here, drink this."

She proposed, holding a cup of tea, he pushed himself up despite his weakened muscles. Still, he was too weak to drink it himself. Calli, eager, put it to his lips herself. Astre felt embarrassed at the act, but once he swallowed the liquid, the tiredness he felt disappeared as if it was never there. Standing up, he felt his body, and it felt perfectly fit. His debuff also vanished from his status.

"You could have rested a little more," Calli spoke with a pout.

"How did you make that?" Astre asked, amazed by the effect.

"Are you really going to ask that?" she asked as she hid her face in both of her hands.

"I walked into that one, also you have quite extensive knowledge about those things," remarked Astre.

"You can't take that into the tournament," stated the pale woman ignoring his remark. "I made that with my special privileges."

"Shame. It seems I have only a few minutes left," said the adventurer.

"Yes, they also tell me to go back," she stated, looking at a screen that appeared in front of her face. "I'm to oversee certain parts of the tournament. Sadly it's not a role where I can help you. Otherwise, I would make sure to point everyone in your direction." She smiled just at the thought of Astre facing the whole player base.

"And I shall be thankful for that," he replied sighing.

"I wish you have a fun time. I will be watching it. Always," she announced and disappeared.

Astre shook his head. He spent the last few minutes stretching and refocusing himself. Then with the final stretch of determination, he disappeared in bright light.