Chapter 5: Nightmare
Crackle.
The lid of the capsule opened as a current of steam rushed out and Zayne quickly climbed from it with a shocked look.
He glanced at his left arm, which was bleeding a minute ago, and sighed in relief as the horrific wolf fang wounds only existed in Fallen Fate Online.
"Shit... I didn't expect that. The pain was so damn real, I could even feel the fangs touching my bone!" Zayne exclaimed, slamming his fist on the table in fury.
He was terrified but also angry that he couldn't defeat his first opponent without injury.
'Damn, why wasn't there a warning anywhere that the sensation was so real, especially if it was pain? Wouldn't that scare off players?' Zayne inwardly muttered, once again pondering the hyper-realism of the game before looking at the clock.
The time was 7:50 PM, so Zayne had spent practically an hour in the game.
Zayne turned to the capsule and with a frown uttered, "I don't know if I'm going back to this dangerous place, but I definitely need to take a walk now."
He took his phone from the table, threw his coat over himself, and left the house.
Zayne lived in one of the poorest neighborhoods, the only upside of which was that the hospital was not far away. Though the house was of low quality, he got it for free, or rather he and Mia since they were not really siblings.
"Agh... Mia, I hope you're okay." Zayne's gaze grew sad as he looked at the hospital in the distance, exhaling cold steam.
They had both been orphans and over the many years in the orphanage they had become a real family, so as soon as Zayne got home, he immediately took Mia in with him.
It was cold outside, so Zayne's cheeks turned red as well as his ears. Winter would be coming in a month, so the temperature was quite low, in anticipation of the first snow. However, it didn't bother Zayne at all, since all his thoughts were focused only on Fallen Fate Online, more specifically on the terrifying sight of the wolf.
Click.
A few hours later Zayne returned home. He touched the capsule, stared at it for a while until he finally shook his head and moved toward the bed. Even though he had only spent one hour in the game he felt tired, so he fell asleep almost immediately.
...
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The rain pelted the ground with massive drops of water while a violent wind brought a cold chill through the streets of the city.
A young man in a gray coat walked in the middle of a narrow alley as this was where he was because it was the closest way to his home.
"Brother!!!" Suddenly out of nowhere came the voice of a frightened girl running in his direction. Tears streamed down her cheeks as her eyes were wide open as if she was escaping from someone.
"Mia...? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to be in the hospital?" Zayne's eyes went wide in disbelief. He didn't understand what Mia was doing here, or why she was wearing plain clothes instead of a white robe, but he instinctively hugged her as tightly as he could.
"They... came...!" Mia whispered, trembling with fear, and pointed in the distance.
At the end of the alley, several silhouettes appeared with red eyes and wide, cruel smirks on their faces.
At the same time, the rain turned pitch-black as darkness swallowed everything around them. Mia clung harder to Zayne, so he couldn't escape, he had to protect her any way he could, but... How?
Crackle.
Suddenly the silhouettes had sharp knives with glowing blades in their hands, Zayne didn't seem to stand a chance, but suddenly the weapons appeared to him as well, causing his eyes to go wide with terror among them.
It was a massive pistol with a long muzzle, big, heavy, and strong, the perfect weapon to kill in one shot.
"NO!" Zayne exclaimed in fear as he tried to toss the gun aside, but instead, his hand only clenched tighter around the gun.
Zayne didn't want to do this as it was his worst nightmare, but gradually his hand pointed at the silhouettes against his will as his finger squeezed the trigger.
The round, headed toward the central silhouette as the loud sound of the shot provoked destruction all around.
...
"AGH!!!" Zayne woke up wide-eyed, breathing heavily. Waves of shivers ran through his body as well as goosebumps.
"Fuck... Another nightmare..." Zayne muttered, gradually calming down. He looked at his watch, it was already 5 AM, so in a few hours, it should be dawn.
Zayne shook his head, drank a glass of water, and looked at the capsule. He had no desire to sleep again, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to meet someone like a black wolf again.
After a while, Zayne sighed and put his palm to the lid of the capsule, opening it.
"From one nightmare straight into another, right? Well, even if I don't feel like doing it I have to keep my promise to the old man. He must be waiting for me by now, how many hours has it been? Five? Six?" Zayne muttered with a slight smile before climbing into the capsule.
He logged into Fallen Fate Online, selected his character, and almost instantly found himself in the same spot, on a narrow path through the woods.
Zayne was wounded, but now being calm he didn't pay as much attention to it as he had before, also the corpse of the black wolf disappeared as if someone had carried it away, so the path was clear.
'Shit, I probably could have gotten something useful if I'd taken the loot from that wolf... Okay, I got other rewards instead.' Zayne pondered, waved his hand, and his eyes flashed for a moment.
[One Hit: All of your critical attacks are 10% stronger.]
[Risky Hunter: When you kill unique monsters you get 25% more experience and you have a high chance of getting better loot.]
'That looks good, doesn't it?' Zayne said to himself as he tilted his head thoughtfully.
[Name: Zayne Fellen
Species: Human
Level: 2 [10/40 exp]
Title: First Sight of a New Era and 2 others.
Class: N/A
Health: 20/20
Mana: 15/15
______________________
Strength: 4
Agility: 6 -> 7
Intelligence: 5
Vitality: 4 -> 5
Endurance: 5 -> 6
Stat Points: 3 -> 0
_____________________
Zayne immediately used his Status Points as he was sure he lacked speed, defense, and regeneration as drops of blood still dripped from his arm and the wound caused painful tingling.
'Level Two, right? Well, I've already taken a step forward.' Zayne grinned before heading forward.
After a short time, he reached the entrance to the cemetery. The old iron gates were partially obscured by fog as well as many tombstones, but after the eerie sight of the black wolf, it didn't seem dangerous to Zayne at all, so he just stepped inside, pacing to the last row.
Zayne quickly found the right tombstone, took out a red candle with a box of matches and lit it. The yellow flame illuminated the name on the tombstone and as the first drop of wax fell in front of Zayne a notification appeared.
[You've completed the quest! Come back for your reward!]
"Damn... Such a moment ruined..." Zayne complained lightly while shaking his head.
Whoooooosh.
There was a mighty rush of wind as someone approached the nearby tombstone. It was a mysterious man with blond hair and blue eyes. His body was covered by a long black coat, a dark hat on his head, and an open umbrella in his hand, though it was not raining now.
He looked at Zayne as his gaze shifted for a moment to his ring.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone