I was brought to a dim room lighted only by small floating candles. At the center, there’s a strange circle with complex patterns which looked like something that a cultist would use to summon the devil. Denmark, being the gentleman that he is, thrown me into the weird circle and I landed face first. This guy really hates me.

“Now stay there and wait for the princess. I can’t wait to see you squirming and begging for your life!”

Is this guy a villain? Am I actually going to die again? I ignored him and started to inspect the strange circle. It was giving off a faint blue light. The runes adorning the circle looked like hieroglyphics mixed with Chinese characters. I thought the auto-translate would let me read them but nothing happened. After a few minutes, the princess finally arrived.

"I see that you brought backup dancers with you princess. Are you gonna perform something?"

I see her face twitch a bit with my joke. She, together with five people wearing robes came closer to me. They had hoods covering their faces but I’m sure these guys are mages and that they’re gonna do something which is not related to dancing at all that I won’t be happy about.

“We will begin the incantation now. Before anything else, that is the magic circle for the Eye of Truth. It’s a forbidden spell, the same class as the spell used to summon you, which is bestowed only to powerful kingdoms such as ours. Basically, it will give you a strong stimulus in the form of illusions to awaken whatever power is inside you. Do you have any other questions?”

I’m bothered by ‘strong stimulus’ and what Denmark had said earlier but I guess this spell will grant me my abilities. My heart was beating really fast from the anticipation.

“This is safe right?”

The princess smiled then covered her mouth with her fan.

“It worked four out of five times. If I have to say anything, then it is relatively safe. Now, if you have no further questions, then we will start the incantations. We need to get this done as soon as possible.”

So about eighty-percent success rate? I guess it is really safe. Now that she mentioned it, five people have already been summoned yet she said earlier that I will fight for her together with four other summoned individuals.

“Okay do it. Oh wait for a second. Just what happened to the one who failed anyway?”

The princess did not answer me. She closed her eyes then suddenly spoke words that my auto-translate could not understand. The five mages followed suit and also started to chant making atmosphere around me feel much heavier than before. I could feel the floor slightly tremble and my consciousness was slowly fading with every word they utter. Their voices melded together like a choir and it sounded so beautiful yet so dreadful. When they finished, the princess shouted the word ‘activate’ making the light from the magic circle intensify which made it hard to look at the surroundings yet I could still see her beautiful yet creepy smirk.

She then replied to me.

“He died.”

I passed out again.

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I could hear someone talking. It was a very familiar voice.

“Mr. dela Cruz! How dare you sleep on my class?”

I was hit by a hard object. I instinctively looked up and then saw a strange scene. I was inside a classroom. My classmates were laughing at me and in front was my sixth grade teacher Mrs. Andres. I was confused. What is happening to me? Was all of that just a dream? I picked out the object that was thrown at me. It was a chalk eraser. I stood up and gave it to Mrs. Andres

“It seems that you had a really beautiful dream Mr. dela Cruz. Would you please discuss it to the class?”

I suddenly felt a very painful headache. I can’t remember my dream at all! I apologized to Mrs. Andres and the class went on as usual. The bell rang which marked the break time and before I knew it, I was surrounded by four familiar faces.

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“Hey Vince! Guess what? There’s a new game called Attack of the Ancients and its rad man! I tell you it’s rad!”

This is Miko. He’s the one who introduced me to the beautiful world of AotA. Wait, why do I know about AotA and all these other details? My memory is fuzzy and I’m really feeling strange right now.

“Hmp. It’s one of those games which won’t survive a year. I’ll give it six months.”

This pessimistic brat is David. He still look like an innocent child but a few years from now, he’d be called the Porn Facilitator. I don’t understand why I know that though.

“We played it with Miko yesterday but it’s very frustrating and the mechanics are hard to get!”

“Yeah its shi- oops please don’t tell mom that I swore Jiggy.”

The twins Jiggy and Miggy. They’re rich kids but their parents sent them to a public school anyway. I don’t get how rich people think. I’m thankful for them though since they always treat me with anything.

“Let’s play together later! I can play by myself but we can also party up and play together as a team. Come on Vince.”

Miko rarely plays new games so I nodded and we promised to meet up at the internet café just outside my house after the last period.

Suddenly, everything was moving in fast-forward. All I could hear was their squeaky voices and not a few seconds later, I found myself at the internet café while facing a computer screen. I’m about to lose consciousness again. At this point, I don’t have enough energy to question anything anymore. I’ll just let this whole thing play out. Bring it on!

“Hey Vince! Move your character. The enemy is currently winning you know? David, help me out here!”

No one really agreed to it but Miko decided to turn himself into the captain. It was decided that we would play a bot match since we are practically beginners but David kept on complaining about how bots are for kids and that rank matches are where the big boys play. He’s still as cheeky as I remember him. When I hear the curses and swears from people around me, I can’t help but smile. This place is really nostalgic to me. After all, this was the place where xNivzx, the trashtalker was born.

Another fast-forward happened and then I found myself inside my room. Am I inside a broken DVD player or something?

I was doing my homework when someone suddenly knocked hard on the door, telling me to open it. That’s right, this voice was from my dad. I had a dad, obviously, but all I knew about him was that he was an electrical engineer working outside the country. He rarely comes home but every time he comes back, he just drinks all day and fight with my mom. I don’t even remember how he looked like anymore.

Why did I forget all about him?

I opened the door only to be greeted by a strong scent of alcohol.

“You…kid! S-Stop wasting all my m-money!”

I was suddenly grabbed by the neck and thrown to the wall. He then kicked me in the head and all I could do was lie down and curl up to protect myself. What is happening? Why is my dad beating me up? Everything is escalating quickly.

I kept pleading for him to stop but all I got were punches and kicks. My blood mixed in with tears and snot and I kept on crying but he never stopped. He never stopped. I have to make him stop. I have to kill him.

I grabbed one of his leg and bit it. He lost his balance then fell to the floor. I mustered all the strength I have left to run to the kitchen. I grabbed a kitchen knife, turned off the lights then hid myself beside the refrigerator.

“You son of a bitch! I’ll kill you! Come out!”

He turned on the lights. I’m shivering right now but I’m holding the kitchen knife tightly. My heart was beating really fast and I can hear his voice getting louder and louder. For a moment there was silence then a hand suddenly grabbed my shirt.

“Found you!”

I let out a scream. I pointed the knife at him which made him let go of me but my hand was shivering really hard so my grip was starting to get loose. He smiled and slapped my hand. The knife fell and as I try to grab it, my hand got stepped on. The pain was multiplied since he was still wearing his shoes. I punched his feet but with my strength right now, I can't even hurt a puppy.

He picked up the knife and pointed it towards me. All I could do was scream. I looked at his bloodshot eyes and there were only the eyes of the devil. It seemed like he was possessed.

This person would surely kill me.

“You and your mother should go die together!”

I was already feeling so weak yet I did not want to lose consciousness. I know I’ll surely die if I do. I don’t know how long I will last but I will fight back until the end.

Then she arrived, carrying some grocery bags with her.

“Vince! Marlou?! What are you doing to my son?”

She threw the groceries inside then ran towards us, tackling my father from behind. Luckily, he was still drunk so he easily fell down even though my mom is a lot smaller than him. She grabbed the knife that fell on the floor and without any hesitation, stabbed my father’s throat multiple times. His blood gushed out like a fountain, showering both me and my mom with it. I was just staring at my father’s body, squirming like a worm, slowly losing his strength as my mom continued stabbing him. It was a very grotesque scene yet the only thing I felt when I saw his body slowly losing its life was relief. My consciousness was fading again and the last thing I saw before completely passing out were my mom’s eyes. They were the same as the devil.

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I could hear someone talking. It was a very familiar voice.

“Mr. dela Cruz! How dare you sleep on my class?”

Okay, I said that I would let everything play out but what the heck is happening? Did someone pressed the replay button?