Seven minutes had passed, and the kettle finally boiled.
Angelo stood up, walked over, and turned it off. Then he stretched, opened the cupboard, and took out two porcelain cups.
He put a pinch of herbs into each and poured in the hot water.
After setting the cups on the table, he sat down and waited for his mother, who was still in the shower.
While she was there, he decided to get some fresh air. He opened the balcony door and stepped outside. A cool evening breeze touched his face, and in front of him stretched a familiar view — the glowing city lights reflected in the windows of nearby houses.
"We've lived in this small two-room apartment for almost twelve years…"
"So many memories — laughter, tears, quarrels, and those long evening talks in the kitchen…"
These thoughts passed through his mind, bringing back short flashes of memory — childhood laughter, tears, small arguments, quiet evening conversations.
A silent tear slid down his cheek — sincere, light, almost weightless.
For a few minutes, Angelo stood motionless, lost in his memories.
"Sweetheart, I'm done! Come drink tea and have some cake — it's cold outside!" His mother's warm voice came from inside.
He flinched slightly, as if waking from a dream.
"Alright, I'm coming!" he replied, stepping back into the apartment and heading for the kitchen.
There he saw Maria holding another bag identical to the one she had given him earlier.
When she turned and looked at him, she noticed that sadness and happiness were mixed on his face.
"Angelo, is something wrong?" she asked gently.
He sat down, lowered his gaze, and said calmly,
"Don't worry, Mom. I was just thinking about our move tomorrow… remembering everything we went through here — all the joys and the hardships."
Maria came closer and hugged him softly.
"I know exactly how you feel," she said quietly. "It's hard for me too. So many memories are tied to this place."
She kissed him on the forehead. That gesture, as always, brought Angelo back to himself — reminding him that there was still someone beside him whose love never changed.
He felt warmth, calm, and quiet strength.
Maria sat across from him, took out a small box with a slice of fruit cake, and smiled.
Angelo looked at her and then said in his usual calm tone,
"This place has done its part in our lives. It's like a bridge between pain and happiness. And I believe that what lies ahead will only bring us joy. This move is our step toward something new — toward a better future."
Maria smiled tenderly.
"I'm happy to have such a kind and intelligent son," she said softly.
Her words brought warmth to Angelo's face.
"No, Mom," he said, "I'm the one who's lucky — to have such a kind, caring, and understanding mother. Without you, I can't imagine my life. You're the only one who makes me feel human. Without you, this world means nothing to me."
Maria smiled again, but a faint shadow of worry appeared in her eyes.
She was glad to hear his words, yet afraid of how deeply he was attached to her.
"Angelo," she said gently, "you know I'm not eternal. I won't be able to stay by your side forever."
He lowered his eyes and replied quietly but firmly,
"I know… but I won't accept that. I'll do everything I can to make sure we stay together as long as possible."
For a moment, silence filled the kitchen. They quietly ate their cake, drinking tea.
Maria was the first to speak.
"Did you see the brochure that was inside your cake bag?"
"No, I didn't… I'll check," he said.
He reached into the bag and felt the bottom.
"Except for the cake box, there's nothing else… oh, wait — here it is. What's this?"
When Angelo took out the brochure, his eyebrows lifted in surprise.
On the cover was a game — the one he had once been completely obsessed with, the game that had almost broken his mind and identity.
Because of it, there had been many arguments and conflicts between them.
But Maria, through great effort, had managed to pull him out of that dark world.
"Life without End?.." he read aloud, frowning slightly.
A faint smile curved his lips. "You were the one who asked me to forget this game. Why remind me of it now?"
His voice carried both confusion and quiet tension.
"Read the first article," Maria said calmly.
He looked at the text and began to read:
"Life Without End" — the most popular full-immersion online game of 2030, set in a dark fantasy world of magic and war. At the moment, it has more than one billion registered users."
Players create their own avatars and enter a fully immersive world where every sensation feels real — the warmth of sunlight, the chill of rain, even the pain of battle.
They can develop their characters, fight monsters, build cities, and conquer the world by defeating dungeon bosses, the NPC gods who hold all the power of creation, and the Demon Emperor — Grey Moll — who spreads chaos across the lands.
In the history of the game, only one player ever managed to rival the gods themselves.
His nickname was Angelo Fool, but the world came to know him by another name — The Bloody Emperor.
He reached the maximum level —150 — and possessed the rarest attribute of all: the Rank M BloodElement, along with several techniques of Mythic Tier.
He alone challenged all NPC gods, the demons, and the players who were the leaders of five main clans. Thanks to his cunning, ruthlessness, strength, and unyielding will, he defeated them and ruled the entire first main server of the game Pelegon, establishing his own order and absolute power.
He declared himself the new supreme deity — the Final Boss of the server, replacing the fallen rulers and changing the very structure of the world itself.
From that moment on, as long as he existed, chaos would never fade.
He corrupted the balance of the game, turning it into a realm of tyranny far greater than that of the gods he had overthrown.
Countless times, the strongest players all over the world across all servers gathered into massive alliances to challenge him — to end his reign once and for all.
Yet every attempt failed.
Their armies were crushed and their hopes shattered.
The developers tried many times to contact him for an interview, but the player refused and disappeared from the network for five years.
Whoever can find this player and convince him to return or give an interview will receive a reward of $100,000, and $1,000,000 will go to the player himself.
Contact number: 7777 7777 7777.
After reading the article, Angelo sat silently, not believing his eyes.
His fingers trembled slightly, and his gaze became thoughtful, as if something had clicked inside him — and the past he had tried to forget reminded him of itself again.
I spent five years of my life on that game.
Day and night, I played — again and again. I grew, I improved… yet with every immersion, I broke a little more.
The main reason was the hypocrisy of the players, the arrogance of the so-called NPC gods, and the rules of the game itself.
A seven-year-old child faced the cruelty of the world far earlier than he should have.
That game was a small reflection of life itself — full of deceit, ambition, betrayal, robbery, the discrimination of lower-ranked players, and the harsh truth that people can be more cruel than animals.
I experienced all of that firsthand and came to a simple realization:
if you're not ruthless and merciless, you'll lose everything — your resources, your place, your very chance to survive.
Neither in the game nor in reality does mercy protect you, for they are but reflections of one another.
After all, people are the same everywhere.
Over time, I almost lost my soul, turning into a ruthless demon emperor — both in the game and in reality.
At first, my mother noticed nothing.
She worked day and night to feed our small family, while I spent endless hours in my room — wearing the virtual visor, trapped in that meaningless hell.
At first, she didn't understand what that immersion technology was, or what it was doing to me.
Until one day, she saw with her own eyes how I had changed.
I had become aggressive, cold, broken. My eyes were filled with hatred, deceit, and proud arrogance.
Naturally, she couldn't understand how a child could look like that — like a person who had gone through countless pains, sufferings, and wars.
When she learned the truth, she tried to stop me.
For years, she fought against me, begging me to give up that game.
And in the end, through her strength, love, and persistence, she managed to convince me — saying that there was a game better than this one.
That very same day — the day I said goodbye to Life without End — she took me to a small club and introduced me to chess for the first time.
She told me that this game was far better than the dark world I had been living in — that instead of destroying me, it would nurture me and heal my wounded soul.
At first, I laughed. I thought it was just another one of her naive attempts to make me forget Life without End.
But she was right.
The wisdom and depth of this game struck me almost instantly. I fell in love with it — with this boundless ocean of thought and strategy.
And that damned game… now I see it for what it truly was — nothing more than a murky swamp where I was drowning, until I learned how to breathe in the ocean called chess.
Many people might mistakenly believe that chess is no different from Life Without End — after all, both revolve around victory, sacrifice, and struggle.
But I strongly disagree.
In chess, unlike Life Without End, both sides are granted equal strength from the very beginning — equal forces, equal chances, and perfect balance.
It is a pure contest of intellect, patience, and wisdom, not of deceit, hypocrisy, or bloodlust.
When two masters play flawlessly, the game inevitably ends in a draw — a state of perfect equilibrium.
And that is where the true beauty of chess lies: victory here is born not from cruelty, but from harmony of mind and discipline of spirit.
Now I've learned that, even after all these years, among a billion players, no one has ever managed to reach the same achievements or status I once held in Life without End.
To be honest, it surprises me — so many have lost themselves chasing everything that game promised, and yet none have surpassed what I did back then.
The developers are still searching for me, offering absurd amounts of money, just to bring me back — even for a moment — into that world I barely escaped from.
Now we have almost no savings left, and this is a good chance to fill my pockets.
We spent everything on a new house — a luxurious mansion in the center of Zurich, which was supposed to become a symbol of our new life.
Mahaha... Maybe I should accept this gift of fate.