The gentle familiar ping of leaving the call signaled Sophia’s exit from the rambunctious voice chat she had unwillingly been a part of for the last twelve hours. Neatly placing her headset on the charging rack she plummeted down onto her bed before huffing and unconsciously neatening her skirt.
“That was not even worth my time.” She bemoaned still recovering from having her ears assaulted by conflicting shotcalling and childish arguing.
In the last year more and more games have forced people to join groups to complete harder missions, not even leaving a choice for solo players like her. The industry was truly losing its edge and the core of gaming. It was as if the large mega corporations had sucked out the soul of everything that made the experience fun and instead monopolised all that made a quick buck.
In the not so distant past Sophia, or rather her online identity of DoomedPenguin, had been a legend for always refusing guild and group invites and still sitting comfortably in the higher percentile of players in the games.
“Where did it go wrong” Sophia asked the air and received no response as expected. Huffing again she laid down and wiped her eyes of fatigue before checking her phone. Predictably there were no messages. Such was the fate of someone who had submerged themselves as deeply as she did in her hobby as well as pushed her former friends and family away for reasons that she hardly remembered.
Throwing her phone across the room in anger the telltale sound of smashing glass making her wince slightly before her anger and resentment further increased by the loss of one of her few worldly belongings.
“Everything okay sweetie?” The yell of her mother burrowed it’s way up into her room.
“Yes, i’m fine!” She yelled back in the most docile tone she could muster.
A few moments later she heard her mother start coming up the stairs towards her room and then knock on her door before letting herself in anyway.
The bright artificial light from the opening door assaulting her eyes that had adjusted to the dark of the room around her she buried her face in a pillow.
“Sweetie, you can’t keep doing this.” Her mother began her lecture as she sweeped up the broken phone and it’s shattered components. Biting her tongue to keep silent as she waited for the next part.
“You stay in this room every day and barely come out to even eat! You are eighteen years old Sophia, you should be at college studying the Arts like you wanted to rather than rotting away here playing games.”
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
“I dropped out for a reason.” She bit out in response, unable to keep it in.
Her mother sighed like she was dealing with an unruly child.
“Whatever you say sweetie, just know that games are not everything and honestly it’s an embarrassment to the family that you dropped out of your promising education and career to play video games all day and you're not even the best after countless hours of playing them.”
Taking a breath to calm herself from the familiar mocking insult she responded in kind.
“Why don’t you go and bother the wonder child instead of me? He seems to be doing amazingly, wouldn't you say?”
Her mother looked at her with an insulting pitting gaze before she left. Deciding not to entertain the ideas of returning to her education and doubling down on her resolve she made a promise.
“I will be the top and transcend the rest” She vowed to herself before exhaustion reared its ugly head.
The walls in her room coated in posters of her favorite games and denoting her achievements caused her heart to ache and an overbearing wave of nostalgia to hit. Closing her eyes in a vain effort to make herself smaller she delved into deep thought before sleep eventually took her.
Waking up to the sounds of birds chirping and breathing in the lush smell of the forest she slowly stretched her arms and legs as she sat up and gazed at the forest around her.
Wait. Forest?! She thought in alarm before immediately jolting up and surveying her surroundings.
Around her were trees that towered over even the tallest buildings she had seen and bushes full of different berries and fruits that she did not even have the first clue of analysing. Such lushous nature was rare in 2053 Earth and was certainly not within even a day's full driving distance of home.
Has she been kidnapped? Drugged to sleep and dropped in the wilderness for some purpose? Or had her family decided to dump her at last. Thousands of contradictory thoughts formed and dismissed in a constant stream of self rationalisation and theorycrafting.
Looking at herself Sophia realised she was still in her purple hoodie and black skater skirt that she had fallen asleep in. Checking her jumper pocket she realised her phone was gone and in a panic she looked around and did not find her handbag or phone anywhere.
“Great, just great, when I get my hands on whoever did this I'm going to make them suffer beyond anything anyone has ever dreamed of.”
New Quest started! [Punish Them!]
[Punish Them!]
[Difficulty: Hellish]
[Rewards: Self Satisfaction, Random Legendary Item.]
[Objective: Find and punish the one who left you like this!]
A floating green quest box appeared in front of her face.
“I’m losing it aren’t I?” She spoke to herself.
Staring at the screen silently for a few moments she started to giggle uncontrollably. To an outside observer they may have detected a hint of insanity laced into her voice.
After an undisclosed amount time of giggling and laughing uncontrollably to herself she finally exhausted the fumes she was operating on and finally fainted from the shock and the incredulity of the situation.