Once all of them were there, they went into town and headed to the local arcade. They always hung out there, since all of them were gamers to the core, and they had even met there.
They played for a few hours, before eating lunch in the little restaurant tied to the arcade.
Then they went back to play for a good part of the afternoon.
Around three in the afternoon, Alexander had more than his dose of social interactions and made his way back home. He bid farewell to his friends and walked out of the arcade, heading to his house.
On the way there, he saw a few police cars and two ambulances speed by him.
'Another car accident.' He thought.
These things were quite frequent in his part of town since the roads were winding and it was hard to see on the other side of the curves.
He paid it no mind and kept walking until he got home. He entered through the side door and took his shoes off.
"Mom! Dad! I'm home!" He called out.
He got no answer and surmised they had not gotten home from the ride yet.
So he did what he always did and logged back into Tower of Babel. His parents would holler at him when they got back, anyway.
He played for a long time before noticing they still hadn't come home. He logged out and made his way into the kitchen.
"Mom? Dad? Are you home yet?" He yelled.
Still no answer.
'That must be one hell of a joy ride if they forgot to come back home.' He thought to himself.
He looked at the clock and it showed six o'clock. He shrugged and guessed his father had taken a long route since he had wanted to joy-ride his baby for a long time.
He turned around and was about to go back to his room when his phone rang in his pocket.
'Ahh. Must be them calling to tell me they are going to be late.' He guessed.
But he couldn't recognize the number. He answered the phone unwillingly, hoping it wasn't a scammer or a religious nut.
"Hello?"
"Yes, hello. Can we speak to Alexander Leduc please?" The voice on the other end asked.
"That would be me…" Alexander replied.
"Alexander Leduc? Son to Robert Leduc and Anabelle Leduc?" The person asked again.
"Yes, that is me. Who is this?" Alexander asked, getting annoyed at the questioning.
"I'm Dr. Dufresne, from Joliette General Hospital. I'm calling you because your parents have you both down as emergency contact." The doctor started saying.
"Oh my god, are they ok?" Alexander asked, worry gripping him.
"Your parents have been in a car accident, Mr. Leduc." The doctor continued.
"Yes, but are they ok?!" Alexander cut him again.
A brief silence ensued, causing Alexander's worry to turn into anguish.
"Sir… They were declared dead on site. We would like you to come in and confirm their identities and sign some paperwork. Can you get here on your own, or should we send someone to get you?" The doctor finally declared.
Alexander was in such shock that he dropped his phone to the floor.
The doctor, hearing a loud thud through the phone speaker, called out to the boy a few times. He then guessed what was happening and hung up.
He ordered an ambulance to go fetch him at home, using the address on the emergency contact list.
When the ambulance finally got there, the paramedics found Alexander sitting on the ground in his kitchen, listless.
They grabbed him and sat him in the back of the ambulance. The paramedic in the back talked to him on the way to the hospital, but Alexander was unresponsive, his mind only repeating the words the doctor had told him.
He finally broke down at the hospital, when the doctor lifted a white sheet from his parents' bodies, laying in the morgue.
This was just too much for his brain and just shut down on him. The hospital was accustomed to reactions like these and moved him up to mental treatment floors to wait until he snapped back to reality.
It only took a day, but his mind was still broken. Alexander was functioning on auto-pilot, signing papers, meeting the notary, and the funeral home.
The next days all passed by him like he was just a watcher in his own life. His mind kept replaying the day his parents had died to him.
He kept wondering what would have happened if he had stayed home. Would his father have taken him for the ride instead?
Would they have avoided the crash if he was with him? Would they be alive and ok right now?
Was this his fault?
He just couldn't shake away the feeling he had something to do with his parents' death, making him wallow further and further into anguish and despair.
Days turned to weeks and then months, and yet, a nagging feeling kept appearing in his mind. Hadn't he seen all this once already?
He racked his brain and remembered the day of the accident. He had woken up feeling a sense of Déjà vu.
Like he had already lived through all these events. He tried remembering the dream he had that night, then he realized.
His brain finally realigned with his memories, and it restored his mind to clarity. This was all an illusion.
He was still stuck in an illusion, more than likely the continuation of the previous one.
With his heart still aching at what was happening, his thought process steadied itself.
He tried to think of a way to get out of this illusion, but couldn't quite figure it out.
So he started wandering about in his town, trying to find something that shouldn't be there. Something that would lead him out of here.
He soon found it, in the park near his home. The small building with the water controls for the fountains had a detail on it, it shouldn't have.
On the door to enter, there was a number carved into the door. It was his apartment door number, and it shouldn't be there.
He walked to the door, and when he put his hand on the doorknob, everything vanished again.
'Let's hope this is the end.' He thought as he felt his consciousness fading again.
If you liked my story, add it to your library!
This story is in the Fantasy Carnival, so it needs Power Stones to up-rank. If I get into the top 100, I will drop an extra 2 chapters that day. Another 2 chapters for top 50. I will up the stakes at 5 bonus chapters for top 20, and another 5 for top 10! Please vote for me! :)
Also, I drop an extra chapter on Monday for every 100 PS I accumulate in the event!
We are still 50th, but the jump is a bout to happen! Woooooo! Although the competition is tough here on out, I have faith. Top 20 is our next goal! Let's keep this going!
If you like the novel so far or think something could use work, don't be scared to leave a review :)
Everything shifted again, and he ended up back in his apartment. Only this time, he still knew he was in an illusion.
He looked around in disappointment.
"Let me out, Aberon. I've had enough of this mental torture." Alexander yelled, alone in his home.
There was no answer.
"Fine! I'll break myself out then!" He shouted again, sitting on his bed cross-legged.
He focused his mind on meditating like he had been training in the cave for days.
It only took him a few minutes to reach absolute peace of mind and he visualized himself being in the void of space again.
Around him, his surroundings started distorting. It was like the surrounding space was twisting on itself, with him at the center.
The scenery changed, as he reappeared in the little street the thugs had beaten him up in, a few days prior.
He was on the ground getting pounded, but he never opened his eyes. He had zoned out everything.
The scene changed again, switching to his workplace. His colleagues around him, all mocking him for his dream.
But Alexander was not paying them any mind, still locking his mind to external stimuli.
Around him, the scene changed many times, bringing him into situations that would have normally angered him greatly, but his eyes were closed and his ears heard nothing.
He was concentrating on getting out of the illusion, and the illusion was fighting back. Changing constantly, trying to make him angry, trying to make him go into a fit of rage.
After half an hour of this, the scene around Alexander finally cracked. The noise of glass shattering filled the surrounding air, and he was assaulted back with condensed mana, a sign that he was back in the cave with the shield artifact.
Astaroth opened his eyes, taking in the familiar sight. He rubbed his cheeks, which felt wet and got up to stretch.
That is when he noticed Aberon, staring at him wide-eyed.
"What?" Astaroth asked.
"How?" was Aberon's only response.
"How… What?" Astaroth replied, now confused.
"How did you get out of the illusion?" The old man asked, looking at him incredulously.
"Was I not supposed to get out?" Astaroth questioned, getting more confused by the second.
"No… Yes… No… Not that way at least!" Aberon stammered.
"What way?" Astaroth asked, still puzzled by the conversation.
"You broke out! You were supposed to tame your emotions, but you brutally forced your way out. How?!" Aberon replied, finally giving a clearer answer.
"I shut out everything." Astaroth answered like it was the simplest thing in the world.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Aberon questioned, his face a big question mark.
"I knew I was in an illusion. I ignored it." Astaroth said, turning to pet Genie, who was lying in a corner of the cave.
"You… Ignored it? How is that even possible? The illusion affects the mind foremost." The old man said, sitting down, his back to the artifact's pedestal.
"I knew it was an illusion, so I just stopped paying attention to it." Astaroth shrugged.
"I don't think you understand the amount of willpower required to brute force out of that level of illusion, young man." Aberon said, looking at him like he was a monster in human flesh.
"Does that mean I passed your test?" Astaroth turned around, excited.
"Test? Ahh… Yes. You pass." Aberon replied, still rattled at Astaroth's answer.
Astaroth smiled at the answer and was preparing to leave. But before that, he looked at the attendance window for the tournament.
The window popped open before him, and a look of disappointment appeared on his face.
*Tournament Attendance*
996/1000
His hopes of joining it were dashed. He could never level up fast enough to join now.
His shoulders dropped as he sighed loudly. He started walking towards the exit, bummed that he would have to wait longer before getting a chance at shining.
Aberon finally snapped out of his stormy thoughts and saw Astaroth was leaving. He jumped up and yelled.
"Wait! I have something for you."
He walked towards Astaroth, all the while pulling something from within his robe.
Astaroth turned around, watching the old man walk to him while searching his robe for something.
'What could he have for me?' He wondered.
The mage finally pulled out a vial from his sleeve. It was slim and about ten centimeters long.
He stretched his arm towards Astaroth, with the vial in his hand.
"Here. Drink this. It's from Captain Kloud." Aberon said, handing him the vial.
Astaroth inspected the item before taking it.
Exp Potion
Grade: Legendary
Description: This potion will give its consumer a boost in experience points. The amount of Exp gained depends on the quality or grade of the potion consumed.
Astaroth's eyes went wide when he saw the grade of the Item.
"I… I can't accept this, sir. This is too much." Astaroth stuttered, trying to push the vial away.
"Listen, young man. This isn't from me. So I'm not taking no for an answer. I also don't think you deserve such an item just yet. But I was told to give it to you, so accept it." Aberon said, pushing the vial back at Astaroth aggressively.
Astaroth could guess that the old man didn't want to give such a precious item. Which brought the question, why did Kloud want him to have this?
He carefully took the vial in his hands, not sure when he should consume it.
Aberon could read the question in his eyes and answered it for him.
"Kloud said you should consume it here, away from prying eyes. This thing is worth enough to make good people bad." He said, walking towards the passage back to his abode.
"I'll make sure no one comes down here in the meantime." He added, before walking away.
Astaroth went back to sitting in front of the pedestal, still eyeing the potion in his hands.
This could give him the Exp he needed to enter the tournament.
"No. It can't be." He said out loud.
He could guess the rough amount he needed to get to level thirty, by deduction of his prior levels. And that amount was not small.
He calculated he needed over a million points of Exp to level up to thirty, and that was excluding his Exp share with Genie. White wouldn't benefit from this, since he hadn't been summoned out.
But then again, maybe he should summon him. The Exp share had changed when maxing the level of his summoning skill.
Maybe he could benefit too, without him losing anything.
He went through with it. He summoned out White Death and breathed loudly.
"Here goes nothing!" He exclaimed, before drinking the potion.
If you liked my story, add it to your library!
This story is in the Fantasy Carnival, so it needs Power Stones to up-rank. If I get into the top 100, I will drop an extra 2 chapters that day. Another 2 chapters for top 50. I will up the stakes at 5 bonus chapters for top 20, and another 5 for top 10! Please vote for me! :)
Also, I drop an extra chapter on Monday for every 100 PS I accumulate in the event!
We have made it up 2 positions yesterday, and are now 48th! Woooooo! Although the competition is tough here on out, I have faith. Top 20 is our next goal! Let's keep this going!
If you like the novel so far or think something could use work, don't be scared to leave a review :)
Vous aimerez peut-être aussi
Commentaire de paragraphe
La fonction de commentaire de paragraphe est maintenant disponible sur le Web ! Déplacez la souris sur n’importe quel paragraphe et cliquez sur l’icône pour ajouter votre commentaire.
De plus, vous pouvez toujours l’activer/désactiver dans les paramètres.
OK