I woke up taking heavy breaths. My vision was blurry as if I just took off my glasses so I wasn’t able to check my surroundings. This happens every once in a while when I have my eyes closed for a while. This happens probably because my vision is terrible. I rubbed my eyes multiple times to regain my vision. It was very dark outside. When I looked around, I was inside of a bus with people that I knew.
What happened? Is this even real? I was just fighting Duk with Loyd. Am I dreaming? Or was that just a dream…
Yeah, that was probably just a dream. There is no way I fell into the world of my favorite game and fought enemies with people from the server. That is ridiculous. This is not even a fantasy novel. Falling into a parallel universe where I become the main character of a game? This is not a Japanese Isekai book. This is just a life of an ordinary boy. I mean that dream was really weird but if it was real, it would’ve been pretty nice. But to call it just a dream, everything was so real. Like I can still feel all the scars and wounds from that battle.
It was then when I noticed something weird. When I looked at my hand, there was blood. Not only was there blood, but my hoodie was also ripped and damaged. There was dust everywhere and dust splashing. I shook all of them off and stood up when the bus stopped. I looked right behind my seat and there was Matthew. I confusingly asked him where we were going. I waited for him to answer but he was speechless. He didn’t say anything as if he was ignoring me. I shook my hand multiple times to get his attention but he didn’t even even flinch. I noticed something was wrong. I walked towards other people in the bus and waved but no one reacted. They don’t see me. They aren’t recognizing the fact that I’m here.
Everyone in the bus was also in the same uniform. They were wearing a grey overall, blue shirt, and a white armor looking jacket. As if they were a group going to a specific place for performance.
Wait what? Why am I even on this bus? These people are from the marching band. Was I even part of the band? Where are we even going? Why do I feel like some pieces of my memory are missing? What happened to me? Why can’t I remember anything? It’s like there is an empty void.
I felt extreme fear. I can’t remember anything. People say the biggest fear is caused by something you don’t know, not by something you already know. The lack of knowledge I have and the mysteries that are not acknowledged are choking up my breath. It made it hard for me to breathe. I felt like some sort of trauma was being reminded.
I held on to the chair next to me and grabbed my chest. The extreme pain originating from nowhere almost made me faint. Right when I was about to fall, I heard an anonymous voice from the back of the bus.
“Why are you here? You are not supposed to be here yet. Go back to you’re world.” A man wearing a trench coat that looks like Loyd’s spoke. But this man had a mask. It was a gray mask with a white smiley face on it.
“Wh..Who are you?” I asked with a stuttering voice. “Why am I here. What is all this. Why can’t my friends see me?”
“Your friends? Since when did you even have friends?”
Wait, he was right. I have no friends. But why am I identifying these people as my friends? I don’t even recognize them. Why can’t I remember anything?
“I guess Duk using its ability accidentally created an error.” The man sighed. “It’s fine. Learning a lesson by growing through your biggest fear is a good way to train your mind.”
With a snap of a finger, a notification rang on everyone’s phone.
“Well good luck. I will send you back to the real world when the time comes.”
I ran towards him and tried to grab him. I had so many questions to ask. His words were too secretive for me to even understand. I need to know what’s going on. Right before I grabbed his collar, he faded away. I hit my back to the exit door on the bus. I hit my back so hard that I feel like I broke my back. I thought the impact might’ve broken the glass on the door but it was clean. I realized that I can’t influence my surroundings here. I must be in some sort of a ghost form.
When I went back to my seat, the people started talking all at once. Soon after, it got very noisy. The chaperones and the driver yelled at us to be quiet but it remained loud. I didn’t really care about what they were saying but a word caught my mind.
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“GTI SMP.”
The moment I heard ‘GTI SMP’, I stood back up and walked towards the crowd. I heard it. I heard it correctly. They are talking about GTI SMP. But why? The game stopped servicing a long time ago. Why are they about a dead game now? Today is…
It was then when I opened my phone to check the date. It was October 31st. I panicked and collapsed onto my seat. It didn’t make sense. The date before I came into the server was March 8th.
‘Did I fast forward into the future or is this the past?’
I didn’t know. All that was confirmed is that this is not the time period or the world that I used to be in. I tried to calm myself but it didn’t work well. I took deep breaths and successfully calmed down. When I stood back up, I walked towards Matthew and checked his phone. If they are talking about ‘GTI SMP’, I must know what they are talking about. Obviously, they probably aren't talking about the amazing game quality but…
-“The ways of becoming a swordsman.”-
Wait what?
-“The pros and cons of becoming the sin.”-
Wait no this can’t be.
-“Who is the strongest player on the server? (Power Ranking).”-
Please. This can’t be real. There is no way this is happening.
-“My POV record of the GTI SMP Lore.”-
These were… These are all the files I made when I played the game. My writings, my records. The stupid books I wrote when I first started playing the game. They shouldn’t read this. This is my privacy. Why is this happening?
I gasped and covered my mouth with my hands. I was speechless. Why is everyone suddenly reading this? I wished that the server got to everyone, not my stupid writings. Tears started dropping from my eyes.
-“Yo Luke, is this real?” Sent by: Elijah-
-“Wait what, even all this. What are these things that you wrote?” Sent by: Ryan-
I closed my phone and put it in my pocket. I received texts from many people. Some of them were questioning me, some of them were laughing at me. I didn’t want to open my phone ever again. Because I knew what kind of notifications I would be getting from now on. I imagined how the band would see me now. I would fall into the deepest part of the abyss just like the fallen stars. I would be isolated from everyone and I would be alone.
This can't be real. There is no way? The guy who I ran into literally faded away. This has to be a delusion, right? This is a dream. It’s showing me my worst nightmare! I was just fighting Duk and he used his illusion nightmare thingy ability to make me suffer. I just have to overcome this and believe this is all a lie. Then I can escape!
I began gaslighting myself and said this is all just a dream. I wanted to deny everything that was going on. Although I knew that this won’t help, I felt like if I didn’t do this, I was going to die.
The noisy whispers and gossips suddenly became quiet. It made it easier for me to breathe because of the calm surroundings. When I took a glimpse and looked behind me. Everyone was frozen. Then suddenly, they turned around and looked at me. But it didn’t feel like they were looking specifically at me, but rather the screen that was floating.
+
[%^$&^%]
Quest type: ???
Quest difficulty: ???
Clear conditions: &^*^(*&^.
Compensation: @*&^&*%T!!.
Time limit: ???
+
I was shocked when I turned around and saw the quest screen. My face began to overflow with horror again. The people who were staring at the quest menu then suddenly started whispering in a strange, terrifying voice.
“Why did you do this Luke?”
The voice rang in the bus multiple times. The screeching voice sounded like dead ghosts. I closed my ears and eyes then started screaming,
“This is all just a dream! Please, let me go!”
A few seconds later, the voices stopped. Then the bus started moving again. Everyone went back to what they were doing like nothing happened. I looked down and calmed myself. I wanted to believe that this was all just a dream but I started doubting myself. If this is the real world and the journey I just had with Loyd was just a dream, will I have to live on like this?
When the bus stopped again, I stood up and looked around. It was so peaceful. I just wished that it could be like this forever. I turned around and witnessed something unbelievable. A giant truck ran into our bus. I flew towards the back of the bus when the impact hit. It felt like I was in a slow motion movie. Right before I hit my head to the wall, a portal opened. It was like a rift. To be exact, it looked very similar to the portal I went through when I fell into the server. Right when I was absorbed into the portal, I lost consciousness.
*
I gasped and woke up. I took deep breaths and looked around my surroundings. I was in the district. Next to me, there was Loyd. I sighed with relief and sat back.
Thank god that was just a dream. That was the worst nightmare ever. Across from where I was. I saw Crimson helping people recover. I stood up and carried Loyd, who was still asleep to Crimson. I should just forget about that stupid dream. It will only make it worse if I think about it. The nightmare wasn’t even real.
*
Or was it?