The closer he got, the more profound the impact. The once untouchable Scarlet Witch, towering above the sky, had made the crowds below seem insignificant to Aiden. But now, as the character lay fallen on the street, amidst a road stained with crimson blood and surrounded by the ruins of buildings, the sight of these bloodied, mournful figures, so vivid in their agony, jolted Aiden.
Even though Aiden was fully aware they were just game characters, the realism of the scene was unsettling.
Removing the VR glasses, Aiden rubbed his head and sighed, "The attention to detail in this scene is quite something."
He grabbed a glass of water and gulped it down, steadying his emotions before reconnecting the equipment, and then...
"Ugh," Aiden closed his eyes in resignation. It was true what they said online; death meant game over, no save points to fall back on.
If the Scarlet Witch had been alive, Aiden could've saved the game to continue playing later. But death meant deletion of the save file.
Days of effort put into playing as the Scarlet Witch were undone by Professor X and Jean Grey, or more accurately, by Aiden's accidental dislodging of the VR glasses. If not for that, perhaps the Scarlet Witch wouldn't have perished so easily.
Aiden silently mourned his mischievous Scarlet Witch for ten seconds before diving back into the game.
His hands worked the controller with familiar ease, and he paused when it came time to select a character. After days of reckless abandon, Aiden was ready for a more conventional gameplay: following the story, leveling up skills, completing missions, and conquering the game.
He immediately passed on the Hulk, fearing he'd again succumb to the temptation of unbridled destruction. Powerful characters like Scarlet Witch, Jean Grey, and Magneto were also filtered out.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
After much deliberation, Aiden realized that all the superheroes were quite strong. Characters like Black Widow, Hawkeye, Captain America, Winter Soldier, and Falcon were probably the closest to ordinary humans, right?
What about a villain, like Crossbones or Bullseye? But Aiden couldn't relate to them.
His indecision flared up again as he scrolled through the character options. Perhaps he should create his own character for a more personalized experience?
"Name, Aiden.
Gender, random... no, let's stick with male."
"Choose an identity. Hmm, having some abilities would be nice, so a mutant seems like a good choice." As Aiden settled on a mutant identity, a plethora of mutant abilities flooded the screen, akin to a grocery list in a supermarket, overwhelming in their variety.
"This one's good, Wolverine's healing factor. And this, Professor X's telepathy. Jean Grey's telekinesis seems nice, and yeah, Magneto's powers too. What's this? Teleportation from the Nightcrawler template? Cool. And let's take Quicksilver's super speed as well." After ten minutes of choosing, Aiden blinked his dry eyes and a sly smile crept onto his face.
Looking at the extensive list of abilities, with a scrollbar that took ages to reach the bottom, Aiden tapped his forehead in frustration. He had inadvertently created another 'human nuclear bomb.'
"Deleting steel skin, shockwave, flight..." After much pruning, Aiden couldn't bring himself to cut any further. He wanted to keep these 16 or 17 abilities.
Finally, the indecisive Aiden cleared all mutant abilities and chose a random set.
"If I keep choosing, I'll be up all night. Whatever comes up randomly, I'll use it. But if it gives me multiple powers, that's not my fault," Aiden thought to himself.
He relished this anticipation, silently swearing that if he ended up with something repulsive like Toad's skin or tongue, he would delete the character and start over.
"Please select a world." Two options appeared before Aiden: "Mutant Mayhem" and "The Avengers." Having recently played in the mutant world as the Scarlet Witch, he decided to give "The Avengers" a shot this time, leaving "Mutant Mayhem" for later.
Upon confirming his choice, Aiden watched as the screen darkened with anticipation. Meanwhile, the VR glasses, which had taken quite the fall, began to crackle with faint sparks.