In a lonely house, there was a young adult, approximately 25 years old, his hair was messy, his physique was deplorable and under his eyes there were deep and marked dark circles.
While slowly the last lights of the sun illuminated the place and the darkness of the night took over the atmosphere, the young adult simply kept staring at the screen of his computer.
He was a staunch fan of RPGs or Role Play Games, more specifically traditional dice RPGs.
Some time ago, he and a group of friends began the tradition of connecting via the internet and through an online role-playing page to play different games.
But that was so much time ago.
Things had changed since then.
Slowly the players were leaving the games.
You might think that this is the normal course of life, to change and leave things behind.
But…
What if your life were RPGs?
How would you feel when you discover that what you value most dies?
Anyone would plunge into depression; slowly falling into an abyss of melancholy and resentment.
In a last attempt to revive what he longed for so much, the young man decided to create a new campaign with incredible details, but this was simply the last signs of a dying man.
He had sent messages to everyone, the game was ready, he had each of the possible dialogues ready, the only thing missing was the arrival of the players.
The only thing missing was for his friends to arrive.
Right now she was waiting.
He was waiting for them to connect, for his friends to arrive, to unite to start the new game ... this was his last hope, his last hope to go back to the old days ... the old times that he held dear deep within. your heart.
He knew that if this did not work, there would be no more role-playing games, he knew it would be the end of everything.
His parents had long died in a car accident, it was approximately at that time that he met the hobby of role-playing games, perhaps he took refuge in these to avoid the cruel reality.
He had no close relatives, his grandparents had died of old age and by isolating himself through RPGs, he slowly lost contact with the rest of his relatives.
He was truly alone in this world, his only bond with it was the good memories of him with his friends.
He waited and waited ...
The hours passed ...
And nobody came ...
As her room slowly plunged into darkness and her being lost hope, something interesting happened.
The following message appeared on his computer screen "Domino has joined the game"
It was the arrival of one of his friends.
She immediately wrote the following message in the chat "hello Domino, good to see you, can you enter the voice channel?"
After a few minutes, Domino replied "Yes, why not, it will be for the best."
"YES" he celebrated, quickly reached for his headphones and activated the microphone.
"Can you hear me Domino?" he asked.
"Yes, I hear you" immediately came the answer.
“Wow, it's been a really long time, Domino. I was beginning to think that no one would come. "
"Yes…. It's been a while since we last spoke. ”Domino's voice was the voice of a person in his early thirties, but in this there was no trace of what could be called vigor, enthusiasm, or youth.
"This is the first time since you changed jobs in real life, so how long has it been? ... two years maybe more?"
"Ah…. Yes, I think it's true. Wow… It's been a while since then… it seems like my sense of time isn't working… lately I've been doing extra shifts every night. ”
"Domino, if I can ask, are you okay?"
"Physically? I'm a mess. Not enough to visit the doctor, but only narrowly. I really want to drop everything. However, I have to earn money to make ends meet, there is no other option, it doesn't matter if they treat me like a slave. "
"Oh…." Tilting his head back, he made an irritated gesture, of course, it was a voice chat for which Domino would be unable to see his bitter expression.
"Actually, I'm barely able to bear it." Domino's melancholy voice, charged with an incredible sense of reality, headed straight for him as if it were some kind of attack on his conscience.
His complaints regarding work in the real world increased further.
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Stories about incompetent colleagues, plans that were completely changed overnight, criticism from superiors for not achieving their goals, days of sleepless nights due to accumulation of work, weight gain due to their ruined biorhythm, the increasing number of medications with each passing day.
Eventually, the conversation turned one-sided as Domino's complaints flowed out as if a dam had broken.
There are many people who avoid talking about reality during RPGs. That feeling of not wanting to drag the real world into the role-playing session was understandable. But he knew that stopping him would be rude of him.
After a few moments, Domino's words of complaint stopped “… Excuse me. I don't have many opportunities to vent. "
To prevent the depressing atmosphere from growing, his reply came quickly “Okay, Domino. I'm the one who asked you to come, even when you were tired. "
Compared to before, a weak laugh with a little more enthusiasm was heard from Domino.
"Thank you. I am happy to have connected and to have spoken again. "
"I'm glad, I also liked talking to you, about the Domino game…."
"Sorry, I won't be able to participate, actually I just logged in to tell you not to participate."
"Oohh ... Yes, it's understandable, no problem."
"Excuse me again."
While staring at his monitor, he observed the image of Domino's user, it was a dragon with a humanoid form, while observing the image, he sighed softly to hide the emotions that had arisen in him.
"I really want to participate, but I'm exhausted."
"You must be exhausted. Please disconnect and rest a bit. "
"Thanks for the advice Dungeon Master, by the way what will you do?"
“I am planning to stay online for a few more hours. There is still time ... who knows, maybe someone else could connect. "
"So that's what you'll do ... frankly, I didn't expect you to continue running games, it was a nice surprise, thanks for not changing."
In this kind of moment, it was really nice that they weren't talking via video call. Because if they were, Domino could have seen his gesture with the naked eye. He immediately closed his mouth to stop his sudden emotions, because they would be evident in his voice.
Immediately dry the slight tears that had arisen, the words of Domino had reached directly to the heart of him.
He had kept the tradition of getting together to talk alive, so it was natural for him to feel overwhelmed with indescribable feelings when hearing words like the ones one of his greatest friends had just said.
“As the Dungeon Master, you have done your best in an attempt to bring us all together again. Thanks for that."
"It is the duty of the Dungeon Master to give his utmost effort in his games."
"It was thanks to your presence that we were able to enjoy these RPGs to the fullest ... Next time we meet, it would be nice if we had some coffee."
"Yes, that would be good, lately I don't go out much of the house, although I doubt very much that we can, we are in different countries."
“Mmm… Right…. So, aahh ... I'm feeling really tired ... So I'll log out ... I'm glad I talked to you again. "
"..." For a moment, he was unable to answer; however, he spoke his final words immediately.
“I had a good time too. Thank you so much for everything."
A smiley emoticon appeared in the text chat. He did the same as his friend and selected the same emoticon.
Then, Domino's final words were heard.
"See you later friend" and with that the only player who showed up, disconnected.
Silence returned to his room. A silence devoid of interest and emotion.
Looking at the location of Domino's user image previously, he released a sigh as he spoke the actual words that he was going to say at the end.
"I understand that you are tired, but since today I had many things prepared and that you are already here, how about I reduce the difficulty and make a short game?"
Of course, there was no response.
"Aaahhh ..." letting out a long breath from deep in his heart. He knew it, he couldn't bring himself to say those words.
The fact that Domino was always tired was completely apparent from the tone of his short conversation. But Domino saw the email he sent and showed up today, even if it was to say that he wouldn't participate. He should be grateful for just that. Wanting more would have been not only shameless, but also a nuisance.
"See you never ..... My friend" It was his words as he deactivated his microphone, of course, Domino did not hear them, but he knew that those words were more for himself than for Domino.
"Let's meet again in a different place"
"Let's meet again one day"
"See you"
"See you soon"
"It will not be for long"
He had heard similar phrases one after another. But nobody had fulfilled them.
No one had returned.
He didn't know, this had been the last time he would speak to Domino.
His shoulders began to shake and then his true feelings that he had held in store for a long time erupted.
“SHIT, FUCK, THEY ARE TRAITORS, WHY? BECAUSE? BECAUSE?!! What did I do wrong? What was my mistake? I-I-I… .. AARR! "
With a furious scream, he hit the table where his monitor was leaning with one of his hands, it was fortunate that it did not fall from his place.
“How many adventures have we had together? How many great characters have we created? How can all of them drop all of this so easily ?! ”
What followed his fury was cold desolation.
"…No, is not that. They did not give up on this. They simply faced the choice between 'reality' and 'fantasy'. Ah, it couldn't be helped, and there was no betrayal. It must have been a difficult choice ... "
He muttered to himself as if he was trying to persuade himself.
He progressively recovered his calm, until he returned to a calm state.
"I'm an idiot" were his words.
While he was thinking about what to do, he looked at a notebook that he was near him, it was his notebook where he had all his notes with the information he needed for his departure, which would be impossible to do. perform.
"I'll take one last look at it, and I think later ... I will."
After looking at the map, the prominent places, some important NPCs, the nations that made up the world, among other things, I get to the most important detail, the main enemy of that campaign.
Currently I only had ready the final Boss of an incredible dungeon with a castle design, I also had some details ready such as the castle locations and the NPCs that would function as the Bosses of each zone.
At this time, I only had the final Boss character sheet ready, and I only had some initial concepts of what the Bosses in each area would be like.
"A powerful Arch Witch with the appearance of a High Elf who is actually an undead Fairy, his powers and abilities were so high that statistically he could be compared to a god. What was he thinking of making him so strong?" she after meditating for a few moments she remembered "For more pleasure of course."
While she was looking at the chips of the other bosses, she noticed something “You are currently level 6, while your boss is level 20 plus another 10 levels of a mythical class, theoretically that is the maximum level; unfortunately I will not work on these cards anymore since the game is canceled, it is a real shame. "
Putting the cards back in the notebook, she leaned back slightly in his chair, and one by one she remembered the names or nicknames of his friends.
Marcus, Domino, Alan, Felix, Mecso, Jaime, Neolaris, Lalos, Ighor, Shade, Magnus ...
Remembering the names of his companions was not very difficult for him, the names of his friends were deeply etched in his mind.
"It was fun, really fun ..."
♦ ♦ ♦
Slowly his sight was blackening ... he was dying ...
Knowing the imminent end of her he began to close his eyes, it seemed that what she had done would end quickly.
She was losing the sensation in her whole body ...
Her consciousness was sinking into a deep abyss of darkness ...
It was over…
... or so he believed at first.
But without him knowing how or why, his eyes slowly widened.
When he focused his vision on him, everything had changed.