The scene were set and the game of war were reaching its zenith. Flames raged; the clang of metal hitting metal; the distinct vibrations in the air of spell being cast; and the screams in equal amount warcry and cry in pain resounded the battlegrounds. The stench of rust laid heavy in the air as numerous corpses of fallen warriors riddled the scene.
Centre of the battle stood the last remaining allied forces. The hero’s party of four were spearheading the attack on the last remains of the Demon Lord’s forces. Now, dramatic as it may sound, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that this battle had the world at stake. Mankind had–cornered without anything to lose–waged all their remaining strength on this final battle; desperately hoping that the hero and their members could save them from complete annihilation at the hands of the fearsome demon army.
As the half-elven hero were laying pressure on the target of their attack – the aforementioned Demon Lord – came a sounds of shattering metal, following up quickly afterwards was a burst of crimson droplets. A pained yelp rang out from one of the other members and in a short moment of distracted panic, Reeve’s vision flew towards the source of the sound.
Metheus, the second of the two female mages of the party, had been hit by a high ranking demon’s attack spell. As she were temporarily cast into pained confusion, another demon had managed to land a hit to her shoulder with its sword. While not fatal, yet, it was clear she would at the very least be out of commission for the remainder of the battle.
Reeve, momentarily distracted by Metheus’ situation, was brought back to reality with a yell from another member. And so the attack were once more on the Demon Lord – now even more dedicated to decisively put an end to this than ever.
* * *
“You… You truly have no idea what lies before you, Hero.” The Demon Lord spat. While weakened and struggling to put on the grandiose display they had before; that didn’t stop them for doing their best to fight back. “If you had bothered to, you would’ve long since noticed the corruption the permeates this world. Yet you continue to fight–completely oblivious. How unfortunate.”
While continuing to exchange blows between them, the Demon Lord continued through their last breaths to fight while trying to talk to the hero – wether to distract, or through a sincere attempt at conveying a plea for talks between them was left unanswered. The Hero simply met the Lord’s strikes and watched with distant eyes, as if the Lord’s words were but air. Yet they went on, telling the hero a tale of corruption and deceit; of who the real enemies of the world were. All of which were futile in front of the one true hero of mankind.
“No matter your words,” after a long monologue from the Demon Lord, the Hero spoke, “true or not, you and your demon army shall now finally see its demise.” Reeve sounded neither confident nor hesitant, but simply spoke as if nothing but the mission mattered – as if she were simply reciting a script. “I shall pray you may find solace in your next life.”
“Trust me, you will regret this. However wast your knowledge of this world you might think you possess, it would not even come close to grasp the truth. Once you succeed on your mission – once I am gone – there will be no going back. Are you truly sure you are ready to take on what lies before you?”
“I know not what the future holds, no one does, but what I do know is that you Demons shall fall here.”
The Demon Lord hung their head in defeat. Their attempts at talking down the Hero had been proven unsuccessful, and without any strength left to resits, all that was left were to accept death.
Reeve raised the Divine Sword, taking aim for the weakened Lord’s head. Having whispered a few final words, in the next moment a dull thud could be heard as their head hit the ground.
It was done. The Demon Lord had fallen.
And so the days where humanity seemed to never be able to break their unending suffering had finally come to an end, all thanks to the brave and noble Hero, Reeve, and their loyal members that had fought tirelessly to free the world of the demons’ evil reign–
◇ ◇ ◇
“…Wait, seriously? After all that buildup; all that adventuring and those long talks with my party members; all those missions I did for those guys; after everything I did. That’s how it ends? My favourite follower gets offed, and a last oh-so-ominous monologue from the Demon Lord before the Hero decapitated it, just like that…”
In dark room, illuminated only by the shine of many coloured LED’s and backlight from the multiple monitors, and the sound of mechanical switches rattled off in rapid succession, sat a rather plain looking man typing away behind his beloved personal computer.
Meet Alan Wright, your average, kinda nerdy-looking guy. With ruffled and unkept hair, an untrimmed beard, bags under his eyes, and a healthy pile of empty beer-cans on his desk, he and his apartment had certainly seen better days. Now, mind you, he wasn’t a necessarily a slob by nature, and he wasn’t strictly (too) unfit either – though the beers and fast food packaging in his kitchen might lead one to believe so. Really, it was just…well… Life hadn’t been easy on him lately, and his quality of lifestyle might’ve just slipped down a (fair) few notches.
“Man, it started of so great as well, and then it just ends with a shitty cutscene where the hero kills off the final boss – and they didn’t even bother to render that bit… Way to go and make a game with that much potential, only to royally fuck up the ending that badly.”
While continuing to stop and sip on his beer, rattling off his complaints behind the screen, he swiftly types away on his keyboard. Then, many more clicks later…
“There, and…Post.”
…with one final push of the mouse button, and the review had been posted. A scathing review telling the world just how awful the game were; how much potential had been wasted by having such a terrible ending – as if anyone would care to listen to what some random schmuck like him had to say about the matter.
“Still, damn, I feel stiff. Guess I’m starting to get too old for these marathon sessions– Nah, anyone would get like this after sitting down and playing for six hours straight.”
…Right? Like, I’m only in my □□□□ties yet, I’m still plenty young and spry.
“Oh right, what’s the time– AH?! It’s already 5 AM?! Shit, shit, shit, I’m supposed to be at work–!”
Life hits hard. That is, until your brain catches up with reality. “Right, I got laid off…” As he’d thought out loud with a complicated expression, he had been laid off just a couple of days ago. Habits don’t die so easily.
“Anyway, I could really need something to eat right about now.” After a light stretch, and distinct crack from his…back(?), he took some leftover pizza and threw in the microwave. He then went off to the bathroom, because, you know, hours of straight gaming took its toll in more than one way.
“Ah~ This is the stuff,” he mused, sipping away on a new can of well-chilled beer in hand.
He went on to take a took at his recent messages, both emails and his socials. “Nothing, huh…” He wouldn’t admit it himself, being one to mostly keep to himself, but deep down he’d hoped at least some of his old friends, or anyone else for that matter, would’ve sent him a message. Being a teeny-tiny bit on the ever socially awkward side, he would almost never be the one who would engage a conversation.
“Whatever,” he huffed, taking another mouthful of liquid bliss. Truly, nothing beat a good drink in the…morning? Under normal circumstances, perhaps not the best way to go about the day, but without a job he wasn’t tied down on that front, and so had decided to leave the day clear for gaming.
Now back to being relaxed as the gamer-high had settled, he let out a great big yawn and sank back in the chair. “I…to bed,” he mumbled as tiredness carried him off to dreamland.
◇ ◇ ◇
Ding… Ding… Ding…
“Mmm… Just a few more~”
The distinct sounds of some sort of notification sound were going off in the background.
Ding… Ding…
“Mm, yeah, yeah, whatever~” He grabbed after his phone, fumbling around blindly trying to silence it, when, “Ah, fuck it,” he said, tossing it away.
The irritating sounds finally stopped and he fell back into slumber…
