“No…” Kayla muttered, standing a hundred meters from the village's wooden walls.
Explosions rocked the world, rattling the trees and sending them to the ground. A sturdy wooden house exploded into a thousand small pieces as a bomb landed on top of it. Screams of civilians filled the air as they desperately escaped the unending barrage.
“Alright, men. Take ‘em all out.”
“Wait!”
From behind Kayla, an NPC soldier, clad in dark green and black armor, gripped his machine gun tight and opened fire on the civilians.
“Stop!” Kayla yelled, but the NPC soldier purposely ignored her. The waves of people were cut down in one quick swoop, their cries disappearing into the game’s dark blue sky.
“Hahaha, I can do this all day!”
“Stop!” Kayla yelled once more, stepping toward the soldier that lay on the ground. The soldier ignored her and continued firing.
More explosions rocked the village, sending debris into the sky. With loud booms countless weapons hit the ground, toppling trees down to the ground. Red fire started consuming the village, flames licking the countless wooden surfaces scattered all about. They grew bigger, eating everything that stood next to them. Within just a few seconds, the flames grew hotter. It felt like it could melt his skin, Anton thought, just standing there. He realized Kayla was about to attack the soldier, bringing her weapon out, when he stepped toward her and held her back. The soldier didn’t notice the weapon she held.
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“Nice one,” the soldier aimed and pointed toward the burning village.
“Let go!” Kayla tried to free herself. She looked behind to find Anton holding her, preventing her from stepping away.
“Our mission is done here. The quest is finished.”
“But we couldn’t let them-”
“We’re done, alright? I already received the rewards!” Anton bellowed. His voice silenced Kayla. Just then, right at that moment, droplets of water started dropping from the sky. One by one crashing into the earth.
“Ah, this sucks!” the soldier said.
“Come on, boss. We need to retreat.”
“Well, that’s unfortunate,” the soldier replied. He then grabbed a grenade from his belt, cooked it, and threw it toward the village.
“No!” Kayla screamed, but her voice did nothing. It landed right on top of a burning house, exploding above it, sending wooden shards all around. Kayla looked toward the village, her head hung low.
The other NPCs started retreating, grouping together and heading out of the forest.
“Come on,” Anton said, standing away from her, looking back at her. He was ready to leave, but Kayla showed no signs of leaving.
“Kayla, I’ll leave you here,” he threatened.
“Go… no…” she suddenly shook her head.
“What’s wrong with you?” Anton asked, annoyed. Was there some fault in her programming? He needed to run a check on the program after this.
“Delete me.”
Anton froze after he heard those words, his hands extended, but for the first time, it felt as if he couldn’t reach her. The rain intensified, more and more droplets hit the ground. Anton thought he misheard something, so he forced himself to move.
“Kayla?” he asked. He still felt annoyed about her malfunctioning, but his eyes widened when he heard her voice again.
“Delete me.”