It was a bright and sunny morning. The sun was already out before 7, cascading its holy light upon the Earth. The road users had also resumed for the day and, in no time, everywhere got busy—those going to work, those going to school.
The honking sound of cars, the footsteps of humans, the blaring sound of trains. This is a society that has been riddled by human civilization.
And in this society, there's an apartment into which the sun couldn't penetrate at all. Contrary to the rest of the apartments, this one was still tightly shut, with the occupant showing no signs of opening it. The windows were tightly shut and blocked by curtains, keeping the sun's rays at bay.
So one could already guess how the inside of such an apartment would be?
It was very dark and creepy. Dark because there was no source of light, and creepy because it was totally silent and void of human presence—except for the soft beeping sound coming from the bed.
If one looked closely, they would see that the beeping came from a machine on the bed. The machine was a VR Helmet, and it seemed to be connected to something.
Beep! Beep!
A red light suddenly shone brightly from the VR Helmet as it disconnected from whatever it was connected to.
"Finally." A faint whisper could be heard as two hands grabbed the VR Helmet and pulled it away. These hands then planted themselves on the bed, helping their owner to sit upright.
"I finally made it out alive." The figure on the bed said to himself, heart pounding like a ceremonial drum. His entire body was drenched in sweat, even the bed was soaked. He quickly tried to get up, placing his left foot on the floor—only to feel a sharp pain shoot straight to his brain. He placed the other leg down and the pain returned.
He gritted his teeth and tried to stand up—only to feel a sharp cut across his stomach. He stumbled to the floor.
"What's wrong with me? Why do I feel extremely weak and tired?" the figure asked himself as he struggled to raise his body, but to no avail. The pain worsened with every passing second, like something gnawing at his nerves. It was then that the figure realized his body was slipping out of his control. It felt far too light.
"I can't believe after passing through hell in God's Realm… I'll still pass through hell the moment I wake up." Malik gritted his teeth as he attempted to fold his fists.
"But compared to God's Realm, this hell is nothing," he reassured himself, managing to clench his fist and haul himself up. He still felt immense pain, but chose to bear through it.
Slowly, he walked to the curtain, parted it, and then unlocked the window, sliding it to the left. The impatient sun immediately poured into the room, flooding it with illumination and revealing the figure.
The figure didn't linger. He dragged himself to the kitchen—only to find it layered in dust, full of dirty plates, and worst of all… completely empty. No food, not even a crumb.
As if responding to the discovery, his stomach groaned loudly, twisting and sending waves of sharp pain through him. He nearly collapsed there but instead dragged himself out of the kitchen.
The figure already knew—one of the reasons he was in this state was because of hunger. He wondered if he might die right here. But at the very least, let him die where others would see him.
As he was dragging himself toward the door, a rhythmic tone chimed from a device. It was a ringtone—his ringtone.
He quickly dragged himself over, ignoring the pain coursing through his body. He had even forgotten about the device known as a phone. But no matter how fast he was, the call was already hung up before he reached it.
"I can call back," he muttered, grabbing the phone. The first thing he saw was that the battery was down to just 3%. Before he could even contemplate that, another call came in—an unknown number. He picked it up at once.
"Brother Isiaka!" the caller screamed from the other end, causing the figure to flinch instinctively.
"Where have you been all this while, Brother? I've been trying to reach you for the past five days! I've called you up to a hundred times and been to your apartment at least twenty times but you weren't available! What have you been doing?"
The caller's words rang loud in Malik's ear as shock spread across his face. For the past five days…
"Michael… Please, what's today?" Malik suddenly asked, making the caller pause.
"Are you sure you're okay? Brother Isiaka, today's Friday—and the last time we met was on Sunday. I was told you haven't attended classes this week at all." Michael answered, and Malik's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
He had been stuck in the game for nearly five days and had missed an entire week of classes.
It explained why his fully charged phone was now at 3% and why he felt so incredibly weak—he hadn't eaten or drunk anything for the past five days. It was a miracle he was still alive.
"Brother Isiaka? Are you there? Are you there? Ugh, network…" Beep! Beep!
The call ended after Malik went completely silent, and Michael assumed it was the network.
Beep!
Before Malik could even lower the phone from his ear, a loud beeping sound reached his eardrums. It was the notification of a message. He quickly checked it—it was from the Course Rep.
Isiaka Abdulmalik, we will be having a test today by 10:00am.
"A test…?" Malik's eyes widened as he quickly tapped the back button and fixed his gaze on the time. It was 9:45 AM, and the date was October 19, 2027.
"I've just 15 minutes…" The figure—Isiaka Abdulmalik, commonly referred to as Malik—immediately jumped up, ignoring the fact that he hadn't eaten and felt deathly weak. He rushed into the bathroom and came out in five minutes. In less than three, he was fully dressed.
He picked up his phone to check the time and, just as he pressed the power button, the phone shut down.
"Screw me!" he cursed, flinging the phone onto the bed and dashing out of the house.