Chapter 1: Inception

Eric threw his bag on the bed and locked the door behind him. He was looking very homeless despite the fact that he had a home.

His brown hair was all sticky and slimy from an unknown substance that had stained it.

He ran his fingers through his hair and made a disgusted expression.

‘I swear Nelson is going to get what's coming to him for real. My hair's a huge mess now. Tch!’

He was very distraught about it as he mumbled on his way to the bathroom.

Soon after, he was done and his hair was all fixed and fresh. He had a towel wrapped around his waist as he picked up his phone and saw that he had three new messages;

Matt Baker: You're free now? Let's play. Just a few more XP and we'll have a chance at world championships.

Chuck Fierro: Y'all will have to carry me tho. I still can't use this weapon well. Level too low.

Matt Baker: Tag @Eric_Jason, he'll carry us. Hehe.

…

Eric smiled softly and began typing;

“Let's rank up boys. This Titan medal will belong to us. Let's voice chat in Pisscord btw.”

He then dropped his phone on the bed and he put on some clothes and got on his gaming setup to start up the game. The game was the most popular in the city of New York and among the top three games in the world. It was created by Matt Baker's father's company.

The loading screen appeared and brought a bold and bright red series of letters; The Lands of the Endless.

‘Let's crush some newbies and bots.’

His friends were already in-game, waiting earnestly for his arrival.

“What's up boyyyyyy?” The voice of a giddy teenager rang into Eric's head through his headphones, so much so that Eric had to reduce the volume of his speakers.

“Matt! You're gonna make me deaf one day.” Eric called out as he smiled. “What's up man?”

“I'm alright bro. Did you get bullied again today?” Matt's voice came again, moderate this time.

“Pfft… Everyday occurrences. I'd say Nelson, the son of Makker, is quite creative for someone with such an attitude. I'm kinda impressed for real.” Eric responded with a smirk as he navigated through some settings.

“Ah… that ingenious bastard. We should report him. Not like that'll work anyway.” Matt said.

“Meh. I'll get back at him… someday. Reporting him is futile for real.” Eric said before his eyes shifted to the third name in the call.

“Humm… Chuck? Are you gonna stay muted all day or you're gonna say something?” Eric asked as he sat back on his exquisite leather gaming chair.

Eric lost both his parents in an accident so he wasn't particularly rich enough to afford anything. But Matt's family had been good to him and his twin sister, Erica. They even got him a complete gaming setup with speakers and all that…

“Errr… How's Erica?” A low voice finally sounded weakly from Eric's speakers.

‘Ah, this simp!’

Eric held back his laughter to the best of his ability but Matt wasn't so considerate as he bawled out with laughter causing Eric to lose his composure and let loose his laughter as well.

“What?! What did you expect me to say?” Chuck asked with discontent obvious in his voice.

“I don't know, a ‘hi’ would have been good?” Eric replied amidst laughter.

“Who says hi to boys? We're not girls. Say What's up dawg.” Matt's voice came sharply through the headphones.

“Tch! Annoying.” Was all Chuck managed to say before he muted his mic again.

“Have you finally fixed your mic or are we gonna endure your silence throughout the match?” Matt directed his question to Chuck.

“My silence please. I'll do callouts when necessary.” Chuck replied before muting his mic again.

Soon they started their game and played for 4 hours straight. There was shouting, curses, jesting and more cursing all throughout the gaming session but they were finally done.

Eric glanced at the digital clock on his table and sighed before taking off his headphones and picking up his phone.

‘I haven't even done my exposition homework and it's already dusk. Tch! I hate gaming before assignments. I'm out of brain juice.’

He then opened his phone and went straight to the social message app to see that he had unread messages from his friends.

…

Matt Baker: Good game boyssss. We're Titans now.

Chuck Fierro: GGs guys. I think I've mastered this sensitivity already.

Matt Baker: Pfffft… until you play solo.

Chuck Fierro: Shut up! Tch!

…

Eric smiled as he saw this and then began to type;

“We go again tomorrow. By the way, exposition homework is due tomorrow. Don't forget.”

And with that he put his phone on the table and went out of the room only to run into Erica, his sister.

She was a spitting image of Eric but more alluring. She had clear brown eyes with shoulder long brown hair. Her chest was adorned with moderately sized knockers. She was also clad in a white thick singlet and blue shorts.

“Hi Erica. What are you doing here?” Eric asked, briefly startled.

“What am I doing? In my house?” She replied with a stoic expression.

“Well it's our house and I meant my room not our house. So why were you in front of my door?” Eric asked as he walked past her going down the stairs to the living room.

“Yeah, errr. I wanted to come tell you that the internet is down and to ask if I could tap into your WiFi.” Erica replied following him, matching his steps.

Eric stopped and looked at her sister with an expression that said ‘Really?’.

“That has to be the most absurd thing I've heard in my life. Pffft, the internet is down.” Eric scoffed and went straight towards the refrigerator to grab himself some things to munch on.

“I'm serious!” Erica quickened her pace and caught up with her brother.

“I can't send emails and texts and videos and photos and…” She was about to start rambling when a soft sound of thunder rumbled to their hearing.

“There's probably a storm coming. It makes sense if the internet is down. It can't be permanent.” Eric consoled his sister and ruffled her hair before pulling a bright red bag of spicy potato chips from the open fridge.

“Hey!” She protested and pouted. “Ah, why would there be a bag of chips in the fridge? You doofus.”

“Why not?” Eric replied casually before making his way upstairs, a bit faster this time.

‘Internet is down huh… A bit weird but it should pass.’ Eric thought as he quickly closed the door behind him, only for the door to swing open almost immediately.

“Don't you dare ignore me, Eric Jason.” Erica barged into his room and marched towards him.

“I'm not ignoring you, Erica Jason. I'm just telling you that it's useless to worry about the internet being down. It's just for a while, it'll pass.” Eric replied as he took his phone and sat on his gaming chair.

He tapped on his screen twice and the phone lit up.

‘That's weird. No messages from them yet.’

Eric frowned a little and decided to unlock his phone to check the social message app. His change of expression didn't go unnoticed by Erica however.

“See? I told you the internet was out of service.” Erica scoffed.

He, however, went into the app and saw that his message hadn't even gone through. It was still pending.

‘What in the… Why?’ Eric was dumbfounded as he saw the message.

He then typed another message and clicked ‘send’ but it was still the same result.

“My WiFi isn't working? How's that possible though?” Eric asked rhetorically with a confused expression.

Unexpectedly, the lights of the house went off. There was a blackout as the entire city turned dark.

“What is going on?” Erica asked, panicked a little bit.

Eric didn't answer immediately. Instead he walked towards the window and saw that the outside was wet as though it had been raining for hours but nothing could be heard. The liquid running down the glass was black in colour and so was the rain.

‘What?’