*SWOSHHHHHHHH*
Andrew was flung across the room by an elf. He landed on a wall leaving a significant impact on it. He groaned in pain as he tried to get back to his feet, but was stopped midway when a blow landed on his head.
Blood gushed out from his forehead and bleeding scars covered his body.
He couldn't move, punches and kicks landed on relentlessly but he was powerless to defend himself.
Prompts kept appearing with different messages, signaling danger. His MP was draining rapidly.
[MP: 500/1000]
[ALERT!! MP DRAINING!!]
[MISSION UNACHIEVED]
[MP: 300/1000]
*BAAAM* *BANGGG*
Attacks kept coming; no defense.
Andrew was losing consciousness slowly. The sound of the attacks and voices of angry elves was becoming more distant.
The images of the elves was becoming blurry. Their voices now echoed in his fading awareness.
His eyelids struggled to stay open but all to no avail. He couldn't stop himself from losing consciousness.
"Is this how I'm going to die..in the hands of E-ranked elves..die in a damn virtual game.. what a painful death"
"Tchhhh...Anna" Andrew whispered in pain.
He groaned softly, then fell still. The attacks no longer had an effect on him. Everywhere kept becoming more and more silent.
Suddenly, an eerie peacefulness and silence fell over the space. No attacks, no elves; just darkness. Andrew felt himself floating, suspended in mid-air, moving slowly through the emptiness.
Then all of a sudden Andrew eyes snapped open, and started falling at incredible speed from mid-air. As he fell, lightness started growing in the darkness, building a cool environment. It was the lagoon he saw Anna before entering the game.
Andrew landed softly on the lush grass beside the lagoon's shore.
"Andrew" a voice called out to him softly.
"Huh?"
Andrew recognized the voice instantly, it was Anna's.
"Anna!" He immediately stood up and followed the sound of her voice.
He still wore the white round-neck top and trousers on him, but all the scars and bleeding were gone.
He saw Anna standing under an apple tree. She smiled brightly at Anna and stretched out her hands signaling for a hug.
He ran to her desperately with a huge smile and tears running down his cheeks.
"Anna! Anna!!" He cried out.
He kept running but couldn't reach her. It was as if he was stuck in place no matter how fast he ran. He kept running and running but getting to her seems like forever. Her distance keeps going farther and farther away.
"C'mon Andrew..Run! Run!!!" Anna voice echoed in his hears.
Andrew gave up and knelt on the ground devastated.
"Why? Why?! Whyyyyy??"
"Why can't I just be with you Anna?" He lamented as tears kept flowing from his eyes.
"The world is cruel, Andrew, and we live in it. This unforgiving world doesn't want us together, but we have a choice: fight for us. You played the game for me, gave up reincarnation in another world for me. Are you really going to give up before we even begin? You made a choice, and now you're backing away from it. Stop being your old self, Andrew. You have the power to shape your life."
"Tchhh.. I'm useless okay?! Useless!! Me? Fight elves and demons? Me? Level up in a damn paranoid game? I'm Andrew..a useless,nerdy teenager who is lost in his own delusional dreams. I miss being bullied, attending school, answering questions in class, reading my books all day, my solitary life at home, I miss my job as a boring cleaner. I miss my boring and predictable life!!" Andrew cried out and lamented.
"Hmmm" Anna sighed.
"So you don't miss me?" She tilted her head, her eyes inquisitive.
Andrew couldn't answer, he gaze fixed on the grasses as tears streamed endlessly down his face.
"Let's conquer this cruel world together, Andrew. No matter the obstacles, no matter the strength of the opponent, no matter their numbers..just keep thinking of me.. use me as your fuel of energy,your motivation to get out of the nightmare".
Anna voice became distant and more distant. Andrew's visibility was slowly fading again. He was losing consciousness.
"Ann.." he whispered.
Different voices surrounded him.
'You're weak'. 'Just a damn teenager'. 'You're nobody Andrew'.' You are a mistake Andrew'.
This were some of the words he could grasp.
He kept shaking his head violently in disagreement to the voices he heard.
"You're weak Andrew..you don't deserve me"
Anna voice echoed.
"Noooo.. I'm not weak"
"Noooooooooooo"
[MP: 250/1000]
Andrew groaned and screamed in pain. His mana aura emanating into a huge blast which sent most elves that where near him flying across the room.
The force of Andrew's outburst left a ringing silence in its wake. The remaining elves, those who hadn't been flung against walls or knocked unconscious, stumbled backward, their pointed ears twitching, their expressions a mixture of fear and confusion. The aggressive red glow in their eyes flickered uncertainly.
Andrew stood panting, his body trembling, but for the first time since the brutal assault began, a flicker of something other than despair ignited within him. It wasn't strength, not yet, but a raw, untamed surge of something. The voices that had tormented him were momentarily silenced, replaced by the heavy thudding of his own heart.
His MP counter still blinked ominously, a stark reminder of his near demise.
[MP: 250/1000]
He was still weak, still vulnerable, but something had shifted. The crushing weight of his perceived uselessness had been momentarily lifted by the sheer desperation of that final scream, that raw outpouring of… what? Grief? Anger? Defiance?
He glanced around the room, his eyes scanning the stunned elves. They were regrouping, their initial shock giving way to renewed aggression. But in their eyes, he saw a flicker of something new too – a hesitation, a sliver of uncertainty. They had underestimated him.
"Tch..." Andrew spat, a newfound bitterness coloring the sound. "E-ranked, huh?"
He didn't know what had just happened, what that sudden burst of energy was, but a fragile tendril of hope began to snake its way through the despair that had been his constant companion. Anna's words echoed in his mind: "Stop being your old self, Andrew. You have the power to shape your life."
He was still Andrew, the nerdy, awkward teenager who preferred books to people, solitude to confrontation. But maybe, just maybe, there was something more within him, something that Anna had seen, something that had just erupted in that desperate moment.
The elves began to advance again, their weapons raised, their snarls returning. Fear threatened to engulf him once more, but this time, it was tempered by a sliver of defiance. He had faced death, or at least the virtual equivalent of it, and something within him had recoiled. He wouldn't go down without a fight. Not for himself, perhaps, but for the memory of Anna, for the possibility that her words held a truth he had yet to grasp.
He gripped his virtual hands tighter, his mind racing. He had to think, had to use whatever skills he possessed, however meager they might seem. He was still in the game, still alive. And somewhere, deep down, a tiny spark of determination flickered. He wouldn't let Anna's memory be his epitaph. He would fight.
"Let's dance you punks"