I felt my legs shaking as we stood in the foyer, surrounded by my four amazing teammates and the tournament referee. As it was the finals, we were about to do a walk-on from the back of the auditorium through the crowd. I wasn’t so much worried about the walk-on itself, but rather about what would happen afterward. If it were just about who could play the best Dota, I wouldn’t have been so tense. But I knew this was about more than that.

I had something to prove today. To my parents, who still didn’t understand why this mattered to me. To Arthur and Bree, who assumed I was shallow enough to abandon my team. To my friends, who had been there for me every step of the way. And, of course, to myself. I needed to know that all the sacrifices I had made to stand here right now weren’t for nothing.

The referee put a finger to his ear and gave us a nod. That was the signal. It was time to go.

We walked through the doors single file. In front of me were Kelsey and Lizzy, behind me Jade and Rachel. A bass-filled EDM track blasted through the auditorium, barely overpowering the clapping and whistling from the crowd. A large spotlight followed us down the stairs, while the screen showed an animation of our team’s name and logo. Hands emerged from the crowd, almost forming a bridge, hoping to catch some high fives.

Lizzy and Jade happily obliged, allowing themselves to be swept away by the theatrics. The rest of us kept our heads down, fully focused on the challenge ahead. Once we got on stage, we followed the instructions we had been given and lined up neatly in front of the desk, on our opponents' side of the stage. As we looked out over the ecstatic crowd, the music slowly faded, replaced by the commentators’ voices.

“And now— For their opponents— It’s CLAW ESPORTS!”

The same track played again, this time for our opponents. As they came down from the other side of the auditorium, I scanned their faces. Not an inch of insecurity was to be seen. All of them beamed with confidence, happily giving high fives to the audience. It scared me; they seemed comfortable, like this wasn’t their first rodeo.

Walking in the back of their line was Bree. Seeing her face gave me such an uncanny feeling. Ever since the end of middle school, she had stopped being a person to us, becoming more of an idea instead. Or rather, a warning. But here she was, still nothing but trouble. Trouble that could move, trouble that could speak, trouble that could think. It scared me.

Stepping up on the stage, they took a similar position to ours. Both teams now looking out over the crowd, the commentators called for our match to start, and that was our cue. We turned to face our opponents, walking past them one final time. One by one, we shook hands. Finally, I shook Bree’s hand. She looked me in the eyes, and as I met her gaze, she smiled.

But it wasn’t just any smile; it was a smile that told a story. She had already figured it out; she knew who I was. And that manipulative glint in her eyes all but confirmed it for me. She was the one blackmailing me; it had been her message. Who else would show such righteous conviction in performing such a terrible act? Who else would even know about Jason? Who else would have such a clear motive?

I sat down, the hero grid staring back at me. I might not have been the best at social deduction, but my skills lay elsewhere. Right past this hero grid, past the draft, on the battlefield itself. She knew how to push my buttons, but I knew how to push these buttons.

I rolled back my shoulders, put on the headset, and focused on the screen. My left hand touched the QWER buttons on the keyboard, my right hand covered the mouse. Here, nothing else mattered but raw skill and teamwork. And nobody could take that away from me.

***

It shouldn’t have been surprising, but this match proved to be our biggest challenge yet. Compared to G5’s basic movements in the quarterfinals and Green Gaming’s sloppy reaction times in the semifinals, Claw Esports played with divine perfection. Nonetheless, we held strong, our own gameplay showing some equally impressive quality.

Our lineup was a classic composition: a tri-core consisting of Tidehunter, Templar Assassin, and Lifestealer, covered by Rachel’s Chen and Kelsey’s Rubick. We should have had everything we needed to set up some strong timing pushes, quickly deciding the game in our favor.

It all started out great. We won the lanes, established map control, we even got the first Aegis. But as time progressed, the game became more and more complicated. Bree had gotten her hands on a Spectre during the draft, and due to the support Pugna that was always covering her back, we could never take her out. Spectre scales so well; it’s almost unbeatable in the late game. It’s like a ticking time bomb. So even though the game started out great for us, over time, our opponents made more and more ground. And as the clock ticked past the 40-minute mark, we couldn’t help but feel desperate. We needed to make a move, or this first game would end in a loss.

“I’ve got an idea,” Lizzy said, her voice uncharacteristically flat and focused. “Screw the hex; I’m going to buy a rapier. This Spectre is getting cocky, and we can capitalize on that. Kelsey infests me while sending out illusions in mid lane. From there, we smoke as four, leaving Emily out. She can bait with Kraken Shell and Ravage. As soon as Spectre uses Shadow Step, we are all suddenly there and can burst her in seconds.”

Rachel responded. “Are you sure? The rapier sounds risky; we would only have one shot at this.”

“There is no other way; Kelsey and I can’t deal with that Spectre anymore once she gets another item.”

Kelsey backed up her teammate. “She’s right. It’s risky, but at least this way, we can force a win condition.”

There was a moment of silence before I could hear Rachel sigh. “Okay, any plan is better than no plan, so let’s do it.”

Over the next minute, we pushed out the lanes and made all the necessary preparations for our play. Lizzy almost lost her courier while buying the rapier, but a clutch shield timing protected her trusty parrot. My team smoked behind me, and I walked into vision, seemingly all on my own.

I think I managed to kill a single creep before Bree’s Spectre appeared on top of me. Immediately, my teammates sprung their trap. Jade lifted our spectral opponent in the air while Lizzy’s Psi Blades swiftly started cutting down their massive health bar. From the trees, the omnipresent Pugna tried to help their teammate, only for their spell to be instantly nullified by Kelsey as she emerged from inside the Templar Assassin.

“Nice!” I yelled as the Spectre dropped to zero, a bunch of gold appearing in my pockets. I now had exactly enough money to buy the Refresher Orb I was saving

up for, and immediately ordered my courier to do so. I kept the courier and my new items slightly out of vision, trailing behind our team in the trees.

Keeping her eyes on the prize, Rachel called to keep up the pressure. “Awesome, let’s force that buyback. Just move up to their top barracks quickly.”

No more words needed to pass between the team; we knew what we needed to do. Within twenty seconds, we had made our way to their base; Bree’s Spectre was still out of the game for fifty more seconds. Kelsey and Lizzy were chipping away at the enemy base. Suddenly, a big rock monster blinked in next to them and tossed Kelsey’s Templar Assassin into its team.

I blinked in myself, covering Lizzy with my ravage. This allowed her to live, but due to some more excellent defensive play from their Pugna player, she was unable to get any kills. The tension was palpable. I had just used my ravage, our most important team fight ability, and our opponents smelled blood.

We got to the last set of towers that protected their Ancient. Their HP bars went down fast, and repeating their move from before, they went for another tossback. Assuming my ravage was down, Bree bought back into the game and engaged Lizzy as well. I knew, this was our opportunity.

I activated the Refresher Orb I had just retrieved from my courier; my ravage was now back online. “Now!” I yelled. Kelsey infested my hero right before I blinked in. I activated an unexpected second ravage. Kelsey shut down any defensive plays from the enemy side. Together with Lizzy, they took down Bree’s Spectre for a second time. Our health bars got filled back up by Rachel’s ultimate, and the road to victory was now wide open. Our opponents attempted a Hail Mary play with a fountain toss on Lizzy. But before the rock monster could use his ability, Jade had already lifted him up into the air. He got shredded by our overwhelming physical damage, and only seconds later, their Ancient fell. Game one was in the bag.

“Yes!” I yelled out while I slammed my headset down on the table. From the corner of my eye, I could see Rachel punch down on her chair’s armrest. Not even she could hold back the adrenaline that was coursing through our veins.

We all got up on our feet, huddled together, and complimented each other on our performance.

“That hidden Refresher?! Genius,” Jade said to me.

“Wouldn’t have mattered If you didn’t lift the Tiny at the end there. Or if Kelsey wasn’t so on point with her Nullifier all the time,” I responded.

“Uhm,” Kelsey said, “How about captain Lizzy with the big brain rapier call at the end there.”

“I’m just happy our actual captain turned my half-baked plan into a game-winning move,” Lizzy smiled.

We all turned to Rachel; her lips were curled inward, her cheeks fallen in. With a slight tremor in her voice, she said, “I’m so proud of you guys.” She swallowed and took a deep breath. When she continued, the tremor was gone, confidence emanated from her face. “But we’re not there yet.”

She was right; we might be one game away from victory, but we couldn’t get complacent now. I had someone I needed to beat, and I wasn’t going to hold back. I pushed my heels off the ground so I could look over Rachel’s shoulder. I caught a glimpse of Bree; her body language showed nothing short of murderous intent. Panning up to her face, I swore I could see fire burning behind her eyes. She turned towards me, and I immediately put my heels back down on the ground, Rachel’s tall physique once again blocking any possible sight lines between us.

As we walked to the break room, Rachel was already listing off ways to approach our next game. The rest of the team was listening intently, often even injecting some ideas of their own into the conversation. We didn’t take the time to sit down or grab anything to eat; we could feel it, how close we were. But somehow, there were no nerves; it was pure passion. We knew that we all wanted the same thing, and that if we relied on each other, we could get there.

“Okay,” Rachel said, raising her voice and looking at all her teammates one by one. “We have already made it, one game away from the championship. The next game is going to be magical. Because the next game is going to be the one where it all comes together. The next game is going to be the best game of the tournament. The next game is going to be our game. The one where we win that trophy. Where we are going to play together. Where we are going to slay together. Because we are going to win together—”

Interrupting Rachel’s speech, the door to our break room suddenly opened. Judging by his shirt, it was one of the tournament referees. But this one looked older; it was someone we hadn’t met before. His face looked stern, and his voice sounded gruff. “Hi, sorry to interrupt, but we have found some irregularities with your registration. Your break is going to be a little longer while we figure things out.”

It felt like my heart was trying to escape my chest; my nails were digging into the palms of my hands. I didn’t even feel pain, only fear.

The man scanned the room until his gaze landed on me. “Could you come with me for a minute?”

Gwenington

Do you want an easy way to keep up with my work? Check out my free newsletter called Gwenington's Story Corner!

The newsletter comes with many perks you can read about on the landing page. One of them being advanced chapters. I hope to see many of you join me in the story corner!