‘What is this… am I in an accident and just hallucinating?’ Shatter Glass notion, he knew that his body was not in great condition that may have been a result of his last nights soul searching. He assumed that now he is in some waste dump while his car may be a few feet away from him in a pretty pathetic state.
And he also didn’t get a chance to cry for his as the screen in front of him was telling him absurd things.

‘My mind has just suffered a huge trauma… and I don’t know how grave this injury may be.’ Glass brooded as he tried to reach for his phone. But as his fate stands, he didn’t feel anything even from his weak sense of touch that was still present not even an inkling of his pants but instead he felt a coarse cloth that was tightly covering his skin.

‘Huh! Am I naked and this is my skin??... what kind of accident takes away your clothes??’ In panic he tried to check his body and he felt that same kind of texture all over his chest and stomach. ‘This feels like bandage… did somebody brought me in…. why didn’t they call the ambulance?’ Glass’s mind was racing, he thought the revolting smell from the burnt corpses to be some kind of natural medicine but the odd posture and poking on his back told him another story.

“My eye…. is clearing up.’ He got his answer after his eyes restored and adapted to the dark a bit. It was night and the moon hung over his head.
“*Sigh!” Glass focused his attention back on the holographic screen that have appeared in front of his eyes after calming down.

Name: Shatter Glass
Species: Human/Crystallization
Class: None
Level:0
Health: 23[100]
Stamina: 12[30/100]
Auxiliary Energy: 0[Not awakened]

Stats:-
Str:1 Dex:3 Cons:1 Int:3 Wis:2 Spr:1

Skills:-
None

Status:-
<Jade Crystallization><Gene Degeneration><Necrosis>

Exp: 0
PP(Potential Points): 5
FSP(Free Stat Points): 5

<Time left till Beta players arrive: 3Y:8M:4D>

<Warning: Due to clash between the Player and Native template. The right to resurrect has been deleted.>

<Compulsory Quest: Live for more than 10 days>
You are infected with an unknown disease that causes complete crystallization of blood in the body and this disease may take your life if you don’t deal with it soon enough. Survive this fatal disease.

Quest clearing conditions:
1: Cure yourself from the unknow disease
2: Survive the crystallization
3: Find the cure for the unknown disease

Time Limit: 10days
Failure to complete the quest: Death

‘Welcome to “Opportunity”?... where have I heard this before?’ It wasn’t long before Glass remembered. Due to the nature of his business he had lots of free time even during his working hours. During those early hours he came across Opportunity.

Opportunity was an upcoming DMMORPG that was said to revolutionized not just the gaming landscape but the whole world. It boasted complete sensor overhaul that will even make players question reality and then there was its most promising feature of time dilation 1:6 which was considered impossible and absurd to achieve as the human brain can’t handle the so heavy data in such a short time. But through closed Beta even those skeptical people were shut up.

This was a revolution in IT industry. The most common thing people were hyped about is to be able to live life 6x longer due to time dilation. But its potential was more than just increasing the life of its consumers in a virtual world.

‘I opted in for a public beta.’ Glass contemplated after his chaotic memories started piecing themselves together. He had filled in the form for beta without thinking much and the name Shatter Glass also came from that.
“This… thess game is…. Undoubtedly …realistic.”
‘I am probably in hospital attached to this game… Those bastards are using me for publicity, *sigh at the very least make my spawning point some place that smells normal.’

*****

“Javed! Take the Sulphur and setup the spell formation… we need to burn these bodies before they rot.” A magician in the grey robe ordered a young man named Javed while he himself went to help the guards who had their faces covered unload Holy water. Magicians usually hated any sort of physical work, but due to the shortage of labors due to the plague even a prestigious magician like him would need to fill in for lack of manpower.
These were the magicians responsible for the purification of the plagued bodies, but due to shortage of Holy Water they had to delay todays purification ritual as the priest in the city were too busy dealing with new patients each day.

“Yes Sir!!” Javed was a thin man with dark circles under his eyes. He hasn’t slept in the last 5 days as he became a magician 4 months ago just before the plague broke out, hence he was ordered by his seniors all around due to his weak stature.

Lifting up the bag of Sulphur he started drawing fire runes with it around the hole in which Glass was.  Though Javed was tired after working for 5 days straight, he had used drugs to maintain a clear mind as a small mistake while drawing the rune may harm the spell.

“Just how many bodies are in there?” Javed asked one of his colleagues who was also in a similar situation like him.
“The first time it was 9, second time bodies increased to 37. As for this one I don’t know those witch doctors already left this place. But I assume that it will more than previous 2 combined as more and more people catch the plague every day.” The man answered as he looked down into the dark hole. He wasn’t able to see the bodies but the smell from the hole was enough to make him vomit.

“Huh?” Shatter Glass heard some voices above his head. Even though they were faint, he was able to tell where the voice was coming from. ‘Maybe this is the event in which they will get me out of this hole and I will get a chance to begin this charity game for real… bastards took their time.’

“Hel….!”He tried begging out loud, but only a weak husky sound came from his throat.
“Elpp..HELP!!!” After racking up all the air in his lungs, Glass shouted as if his life depended on it because his life actually did depend on it.

“Hmm! Senior Reich, I think I hear something from the ditch.” Javed spoke as he stood up after completing the magic formation, as he was closest to the hole, hence he could easily hear a weak voice echo in the ditch.

“What are you talking about?” The chief of the operation also called Reich Reinhard questioned Javed while his eyes darted around the ditch besides his employee, but even after focusing no sound came. “There is nothing alive in the ditch, go back to wor…”

“HELP!!” A weak and pitiful voice came out of the ditch. This time the other colleague of Javed also heard this.

“What the heck. Did last purification was botched or something?... How can there be wraiths already?” Reich questioned his subordinates in anger, He was already tensed up for the last 2 months. But both Javed and his senior didn’t dare to meet Reich’s eye

“Sir, we had already checked the formation multiple times on previous occasions. And even….” Before Javed’s senior can continue Reich motioned him to shut up after thinking for a bit while he reached the edge of the ditch through which weak sound of begging was coming from.

“Illuminate.” Reich gestured with his hand and a small blob of light launched into the ditch.

This action was noticed by everyone but they didn’t say anything. In the corner after witnessing this action, Javeds eyes were burning with passion after seeing material less casting. Only full-fledged magicians were capable of doing this and he dreamed of being one as using magic for apprentice magicians like them required materials to act as catalyst and was very money consuming.

The bob of light dropped down 80m down the ditch and stopped after reaching end. There were only fresh bodies with red crystals flickering out of the bandages. Javed and his senior also came close to the edge of the ditch and looked down, they were horrified noticing the mountain of bodies and Javed nearly also puked up as the smell multiplied at the edge of the ditch. While the guards didn’t’ dare to come close to the ditch as they didn’t had immunity like those magicians.

“Heppphh!!” Glass was tired, his injuries has already limited his total stamina. But as he noticed the weird light that was brighter than the moon descending in this smelly hole. A spark lit up in his eyes and he lifted his hands toward it. ‘The game begins!!’

“These hooligans from church can’t even do their job properly.” Reich cursed and spitted the bad taste in his mouth. ‘Even if there is a lack of manpower, at least check before determining someone’s death.’*Sigh
Reich turned to look at his subordinated, both of whom had dejected expression on their faces. He clicked his tongue and the light in the ditch went out.

“We will continue with the purification.” Reich ordered in a stern manner waking up both his subordinates from their dreams.

“The man is already long lost and its better to release that poor sod of his misery.” Reich followed, that made Javed crease his brows.

“But sir!!” He tried to speak up but was stopped by his senior.

“Just set up the holy water, the faster we do the purification, the faster the poor fella can go to heaven.”

After that Javed didn’t said anything and also the voice stopped coming that helped Javed’s consciousness a bit as he thought that maybe the man in the ditch really died this time.

After the formation was fully complete. Reich took out his staff after giving his men a stern look and activated the formation.
The sulfur around the ditch started burning in greenish glow and as the holy water floated up and merged with the green fire a white flame was born out of it. This white flame started to revolve around like a tornado and slowly descended onto the ditch.

“Body is just a cage for soul, this life didn’t do justice onto you. Maybe in next life you can find a good cage for yourself.”

*****

‘Where did the light go?’ This thought reverberated in Glass’s mind but soon enough an even brighter light filled his eyes. This light illuminated the whole ditch and even made the air in it to start moving.

‘A flashy rescue it is…’ Glass smiled in his mind as he watches the light descend upon him. He didn’t feel the scalding heat that was increasing in the ditch due to his injuries. What he thought of it was that the game will now begin.

[DMC 5 will win GOT of this year!!]