image [https://i.imgur.com/m2pcvvJ.jpeg]
The flickering light from the jack-o'-lantern cast eerie shadows across the room as Ember, a young phoenix, lounged inside it, completely absorbed in his Switch. His fiery body barely fit within the pumpkin’s confines, but he didn’t care—he was too engrossed in the game on the screen. His claws furiously tapped the buttons, frustration building with each passing second.
"Come on! Not again!" Ember screeched, tossing the console down for a second before snatching it back up. "How do they keep getting this wrong?"
He’d been playing a new game—one where the character must survive endless waves of enemies, but if you die, you start over. Permanently.
"I mean, seriously? Where’s the rebirth? The renewal? A proper death cycle involves some sort of regeneration!" Ember grumbled, shooting another fiery glare at the screen as his character met yet another untimely demise. "In what world does dying mean game over? You don’t just poof and disappear and start at the beginning."
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He ruffled his feathers, steam rising from his irritated flame-covered body. As a phoenix, dying and being reborn was kind of his thing. It was a beautiful, majestic process. Not... this.
"At least when I die, I get to come back better than ever!" Ember huffed, pausing to peek at his reflection in the Switch screen. "But no, in this stupid game, you just stay dead. No ash, no flames, no rebirth. Just gone. What’s the point in even playing?"
He flapped his wings, almost igniting the sides of the jack-o'-lantern. It was getting cramped in there, but he couldn't pull himself away.
The game loaded back up again, and Ember braced himself for yet another round. His eyes narrowed. This time, he was determined not to die. He’d show those game developers what it really meant to be reborn... well, at least until his next game over screen.
"Next time I die, there better be flames," he grumbled, tapping away, his fiery body glowing within the pumpkin.