The wind howled louder than it normally would for an afternoon in August.
The office was quieter than most days, probably because it was a Wednesday, the middle child of the weekdays.
Despite a few phone calls being made to clients and the occasional sipping of the cheap coffee provided by the corporation, it was... chill.
Nico De Luca stared at his computer screen, his ocean blue eyes trapped in a daze and mouth shut as he scrolled through the spreadsheets and accounting information.
His skin was fair for a man who was 34 years old, and his black hair was long enough to rest on his shoulders.
The suit he wore had grease from last night's leftovers, but at least he had the decency to cover it with his worn-out jacket.
"I hate this job..." he muttered as he rubbed the bridge of his nose and contemplated tossing his monitor in the trashcan beside him.
"Heyo, De Luca! Is that you, my homie?!" Before he could, the sharp and raspy voice of a man—a man he's hated since joining the company-snapped him out of his daze.
He slammed his hand against Nico's screen and shouted, "Hello, can you hear me? Earth to Nicholas."
Nico stared at his screen before slowly turning his head and smiling softly.
Blake lowered his shades, his lips twitching before his tongue clicked. "The fuck are you smiling about?"
"Not sure. But I'm pretty sure you're mad," Nico responded, his voice low.
"Don't take that tone with me, De asshole. I don't think that's the type of attitude you wanna come with after showing up late for the third time in a row."
"... I hadn't noticed..." Nico lied through his teeth.
Blake chuckled softly. "Cute." He then slammed a paper onto Nico's desk, making Nico sigh softly through his nose.
Blake lowered his head and stared directly at Nico. He was so close, Nico could feel the air coming out of his nose slightly sting his cheek. At that point, Nico stopped looking at him and only paid attention to his monitor.
"You're not only behind on your reports, but your quota is so shit, not even flies would land on it."
He revealed the paper with red and bold lettering, which told Nico that he was probably on his last straw.
Blake smiled and turned Nico's chair, forcing him to face him as he stared at him. "See, the minute you start working for me, in fact, the moment you walk through those sliding doors, you can consider yourself my ho.
"You make my money, and I'll make you great. But you're worthless, starter pack. Shit, the kids I hired after you are doing so much better. For fuck's sake, De ass crack. Get your shit together, and you can consider this your final warning.
"One more offence... Boom..." Blake spread his fingers apart and chuckled before walking away from Nico's desk.
Nico watched Blake leave before clenching his fists and sighing to himself. His eyes then landed on his co-workers, who had watched the whole thing unfold.
Their mouths moved, whispering about the ordeal.
"He's been doing this for a while now. No wonder Blake's pissed..."
"I heard Nico used to be incredible in this field. I wonder what happened to him."
"Maybe he goons too much? I heard that it can affect your mental health and work ethic."
The longer they spoke, the quieter their actual voices became, only for the silence to usher in a wave of shadows.
Shadows forged from his own co-workers lunged at him, looming around, mocking him. Their smiles were as wide as a glutton waiting for their order.
Nico shrank into his seat and patiently signed the final written warning, thus causing the shadows to disappear as his co-workers finally decided to return to work.
He smiled softly at himself before returning to work, thinking about what advice his grandfather would give him in this situation.
'That's enough dreaming, I'd say. Let's get back... to work...' his chest rose as he released air through his nose.
Hours later, the Sun finally began setting. Nico wrapped up his last report and quickly logged out of his computer.
Without waiting for it to properly turn off, he grabbed his bag and sped off towards the exit.
"First to leave but last to arrive. Probably takes a minute for him to cum too," a worker snickered as he crossed his arms.
"Dude, that's low," his friend chuckled as he nudged him.
Pretending that he didn't hear them, Nico simply pressed his finger against the scanner and clocked out, exiting the building and quickly returning home.
He power walked through the streets, the smell thick and heavy with fumes from cars and the unbearable stench of leaking sewer pipes.
Barking locals and kids returning home from the playground amalgamated into noise pollution, but Nico was unbothered.
Because tonight was the night that he'd finally beat Paradox of the Olympian Gods.
This game was known for being notoriously difficult and was often compared to a video game franchise that rhymed with "Stark Trolls."
It was a sandbox game with a mix of exploration being a key part of the story, and while some players could choose to follow the lore, others could play online with other losers and share their knowledge while they troll the hell out of each other.
The main character of the game, Xin Tian, is a Chinese god of war who overheard the gods of Olympus plotting to exterminate the mortal race to reset the world.
To prevent that from happening, he shared his powers with 7 main characters and 1 extra, the extra being the player.
Depending on the chosen class, the player was given a glimpse into what true god-like power felt like without the overbearing exaggeration of traditional gods in media.
Nico loved this series because of how challenging it was.
There was no difficulty level, no returning to where you were when fighting enemies, and any items lost meant you had 5 minutes to recover them before they despawned.
Also, any experience points you had would be depleted to only 20% of what you had, so dying wasn't an option in the game.
Still, it grossed over a million in only its first two weeks upon launching, and since it's been years, it's made tons more and continues to gain fans to this day.
'After this final fight, I'll be listed amongst the greatest players! I'll be one of them!'
He finally reached his studio apartment—a cramped space with a computer desk, a bed that was stuffed in the corner and a fridge and stove on the far left of the bathroom door.
Nico changed out of his uniform and put his clothes in the washing machine before brushing his teeth, microwaving the last of his leftover pizza and putting on his pyjamas.
After having his dinner, he booted up Paradox of the Olympian Gods and waited as the screen loaded.
When it did, it showed his original character, Vortex, sharpening his knife as he stood against the wall while the other main characters stood around him.
He took a deep breath. "Let's do this."
After jumping into the game, his character began moving alongside the other named faces as Xin gave a speech.
"The world is close to salvation. We've come so far, lost too many, and sacrificed more than we can count on our fingers to fail. Fight the good fight, my friends," he concluded with a soft but determined expression.
Nico smiled and locked in.
The scene unfolded with Typhon, the dragon god, roaring and spitting fire, causing the cast to disappear before reappearing and brawling with him.
Vortex unsheathed his short sword and charged towards Typhon, parrying his tail whip and jumping over it before landing multiple swipes with streaks of orange lightning.
After some more back and forth between Nico's panicking on his low health bar and the slowly decreasing health bar of Typhon, the monster god fell, triggering a final cutscene.
All the main cast charged towards Typhon, drew their weapons and stabbed him in multiple sections, charging him up with their mana before he exploded into golden dust.
They took deep breaths, and Xin turned towards Vortex, placing his hand on his shoulder with a weary smile on his face.
Nico lifted an eyebrow. "We are far from done cleaning up after the gods, my friends. I'm afraid that you have the greatest burden to bear amongst us all.
"Your purpose is larger than everything we've done so far. Please, continue to walk with us."
Nico's heart pounded for the first time in a long time. His eyes watered, and fingers trembled—not so hard that he'd dropped his controller, but enough for him to feel it.
'Ha! Nice try! They're teasing a sequel with Norse and possibly Egyptian gods. Why'd I think he was talking to me for a second there...?
'Is it because it's something that Gramps would say...?'
He sighed and watched the credits roll before gently putting the controller down and fixing up his bed, preparing to go to sleep.
"Do you wish to continue?"
"Mh?" Nico practically snapped his neck with how hard he turned his head, wondering where that voice came from.
Then he recognised that it was eerily similar to the game's UI voice.
When his head was fully turned, he noticed that the screen had a floating message with yes and no buttons at the bottom.
"You're kidding me..."
He slowly reached for the controller and, almost robotically, as if he had been caught in a trance, switched towards the Yes button.
Then, he clicked it...
A second turned into 30 seconds before the screen turned black and returned him to the game menu, his gamertag listed amongst various other players who beat the game.
He blew raspberries as he turned off his console. "Fucking trolls."
Before he could even turn around and go to bed, his feet hardened, and joints stiffened, while he felt his throat run drier by the second.
He rigidly moved his hands towards his neck, gasping for air that wouldn't enter his lungs before he fell to his knees and felt his vision blur.
Then his heart twisted as if a knife was being plunged into his chest over and over again while his mouth remained agape.
'It hurts...!' he groaned to himself before his hearing disappeared, followed by a screeching noise that forced his eyes shut.
Silence followed, then the sound of his beating heart, and finally the cold raindrops that fell on his body.
He flexed his fingers and took a deep breath. 'I can move again!'
His eyes snapped open, and a chilling gale slapped his entire body. Nico lifted an eyebrow and looked at his surroundings.
Dilapidated buildings in a far worse state than where he was staying, cracked tar roads with massive potholes and abandoned cars, overgrown moss that spread like a contagion all over the city.
"This isn't—"
*WHAM!*
Before he could properly process his surroundings, he was suddenly punched square in the nose, making his ears ring and his eyes water as he staggered.
Blood followed as he looked at the person who randomly struck him. His eyes were cold, and his smile was even colder.
Nico wasn't even allowed to ask what the man was doing before he was violently hit once more from the back.
Another one had joined the party.
While he staggered forward, one final man jumped in and began beating Nico senseless, prompting the others to do the same.
One by one, they took turns beating him up, dragging him by the hair and stomping him while he was on the ground.
Their laughs grated on Nico's ears as he covered his face, only for bright red screens to flash in his face, adding to his distortion.
"Aight, I think that's enough," one of them said as he grabbed Nico's right hand and hovered his own above it.
Two holographic screens appeared; one was green, preparing to make a transaction, while the other was red, preparing to receive one.
The man sighed after dropping Nico's arm. He pulled a cigarette out of thin air and lit it with his pinky finger, puffing smoke as he smirked at Nico.
"Strip the bastard and toss him in the trash," he ordered after puffing some smoke.
"You got it, Jake," one responded after licking his lips.
To prevent Nico from moving, they struck him once more in the head and began removing all his clothes, leaving him butt-naked in the rain.
His friend then dragged Nico by his hair towards the closest dumpster and threw him inside before violently slamming the door.
Inside the complete darkness, Nico could hear their laughter—he never knew that humans could be this cruel.
Before he could wallow in the darkness for a moment longer, though...
*CHOMP*
"OW!" he shouted before jumping out of the dumpster and crawling away, his heart heavy and chest pounding.
He touched a nearby puddle and finally got a good view of his reflection. In that moment, time seemed to freeze.
"No way..."
Lightning struck, lighting up the sky and revealing his appearance for a few seconds.
Skin slightly pale but smooth, one a person no older than 20 could only have if they took proper care of themselves.
Eyes redder than blood and darker than night itself, and irises shaped like destiny or death.
Finally, bright silver hair that glowed even in the light.
"Vortex...?"