The Last Player: When the Game Became Reality

Something in the Dark

Ethan reached the bedroom door just as something struck it again.

The wood bowed outward.

His mother screamed from inside.

Mother: Ethan!

Ethan: I’m here!

Father: Don’t come in!

Then another voice answered.

The same words. The same tone.

Father’s Voice: Don’t come in.

Ethan froze.

One voice belonged to his father.

The other had copied him perfectly.

His mother sounded as though she was crying.

Mother: What is that thing?

Ethan moved closer to the door.

Ethan: Mom, listen carefully. Don’t answer anything unless I ask you directly.

Mother: Okay.

Another voice immediately copied her.

Mother’s Voice: Okay.

The imitation came from somewhere deeper inside the room.

Ethan felt the hair rise along his arms.

He had encountered monsters capable of mimicry in Eternal Ascension of Tower. Some copied voices to lure players into ambushes. Others copied the appearances of party members.

But none belonged anywhere near the beginning of the Tower.

And none of the creatures Ethan remembered behaved like this.

He checked his status.

Level Six.

No class. No skills. A weak spear.

If whatever stood behind that door had high-floor statistics, Ethan would die before making his first attack.

But his parents were inside.

Risk calculation ended there.

Ethan gripped the doorknob.

Cold burned against his palm.

Ethan: Move away from the door!

Mother: We are!

He pulled.

The door opened less than half a meter before something shoved it back.

Ethan staggered.

A pale hand appeared in the gap.

Five fingers.

Too long.

Each joint bent slightly farther than a human finger should.

Black nails dug into the wood.

Ethan raised the spear.

Ethan: Get away from them.

The hand stopped.

Silence.

Then the creature spoke in his father’s voice.

Creature: Ethan. Come here.

Ethan’s father shouted from inside.

Father: That isn’t me!

The creature’s voice changed.

His mother.

Creature: Ethan, please help me.

Then Mina.

Creature: Ethan... I don’t know what to do.

His grip tightened.

The creature laughed.

This time, the sound belonged to nobody Ethan knew.

Low. Layered. Several voices occupying the same throat.

Ethan: Who are you?

The hand slowly withdrew.

The door opened by itself.

His parents were pressed against the far wall.

Between them and Ethan stood something tall enough that its shoulders nearly touched the ceiling.

Its body resembled a human stripped down to an unfinished idea. Black, nearly translucent skin stretched across a thin frame. There were no visible eyes. Its mouth was a narrow line running farther across the face than anatomy allowed.

The System appeared automatically.

[TARGET IDENTIFICATION...]

[ERROR.]

[TARGET INFORMATION UNAVAILABLE.]

Ethan’s expression changed.

Not hidden. Not classified.

Unavailable.

The System itself either could not—or would not—identify it.

The creature turned toward him.

Its mouth opened.

Creature: Ethan Vale.

Hearing his full name made the room feel colder.

Creature: Finally.

Ethan attacked.

Waiting for explanations while an unknown entity stood beside his parents would have been stupidity disguised as curiosity.

He drove the spear toward its chest.

The tip struck black skin.

And stopped.

No penetration. No damage indicator.

The creature caught the shaft.

With one hand, it snapped the weapon in half.

Ethan stepped backward.

Too slow.

Its fingers closed around his throat.

His feet left the ground.

His mother screamed.

Father: Leave him!

Ethan tried to pull the hand away.

It felt like iron.

The creature brought him closer.

Creature: Wrong face.

Ethan struggled.

Creature: Wrong name.

His blood ran cold.

Creature: Same soul.

A memory exploded behind his eyes.

A ruined Tower. Black skies. Someone shouting—

Unknown Voice: Ethan Elyrion!

He could not see who.

The vision disappeared.

Ethan managed one word.

Ethan: Who...?

The creature’s mouth widened.

Creature: We waited after the first ending.

Ethan kicked uselessly against its body.

Creature: We waited after the second.

His lungs burned.

Creature: How many times will you return before you remember why you died?

Blue light struck the creature from behind.

It released Ethan.

He hit the floor hard and dragged air into his lungs.

Mina stood in the doorway.

Both hands glowed.

Mina: Get away from him!

Ethan looked at her in disbelief.

Ethan: How did you get here?

Mina: Your mother messaged me before the power died!

The creature turned.

Mina’s expression changed when she saw its face.

Mina: That’s...

Ethan: Not in the game.

Mina: I was going to say horrifying.

Ethan: Also accurate.

The creature moved toward her.

Mina raised both hands instinctively.

Mina: Stay back!

Healing magic was not designed for offense.

But the System did not care about design as much as Ethan once thought.

Light erupted from Mina’s palms.

The creature recoiled.

A faint smoking mark appeared across its chest.

Ethan stared.

Ethan: Do that again.

Mina: I don’t know how I did it!

Ethan: That’s becoming a theme.

The creature lunged.

Ethan grabbed the broken half of his spear and intercepted from the side. The wood did nothing to its body, but it altered the creature’s movement enough for Mina to pull his mother away.

Ethan: Get my parents outside!

Mina: And leave you here?

Ethan: Yes!

Mina: Absolutely not!

Ethan: Mina!

She glared at him.

Mina: Stop deciding alone!

The words hit him harder than expected.

Another voice.

Another place.

Riven: Stop deciding for everyone, Ethan!

Aria: We’re a party, idiot!

The memory vanished.

Ethan nearly missed the creature moving.

It stopped instead.

That was worse.

It stood completely still in the center of the bedroom.

Studying him.

The narrow mouth curved upward.

Creature: There.

Ethan breathed heavily.

Ethan: There what?

Creature: You heard them.

Mina: Heard who?

Ethan did not answer.

The creature tilted its head.

Creature: They’re still inside you.

Ethan: Who?

Creature: The ones you abandoned.

His expression hardened.

Ethan: I didn’t abandon anyone.

The creature laughed.

Creature: You don’t remember enough to know what you did.

Ethan stepped forward despite every instinct warning him not to.

Ethan: Then tell me.

The creature’s mouth stopped smiling.

Creature: No.

Ethan: Why?

Creature: Because he told us not to wake you.

Ethan: Who?

The temperature dropped sharply.

Frost appeared across the bedroom window.

The creature lifted one hand.

For an instant, the skin across its arm became transparent.

Inside was not bone.

There was darkness.

And within that darkness, Ethan saw the outline of a Tower.

Creature: The one who stole your ending.

Ethan: The Tower?

Creature: Higher.

Ethan’s heart pounded.

Creature: Ask why you remember being alone.

Silence.

Ethan stopped moving.

Creature: Ask why eight became one.

Mina looked at him.

Mina: Ethan...

Creature: Ask why your oldest memories begin after your life already started.

Pain stabbed through Ethan’s head.

Eight silhouettes.

A team crest.

Hands together.

A younger Ethan laughing.

A name.

Last Dawn.

He grabbed his temple.

Ethan: Stop.

The creature stepped closer.

Creature: Ask why the game remembers people your mind erased.

Ethan: STOP!

The room shook.

A System message appeared.

[UNAUTHORIZED MEMORY STIMULUS DETECTED.]

The creature looked upward.

For the first time, it appeared afraid.

[TERMINATION PROTOCOL INITIATED.]

Creature: Too soon.

Ethan looked at the message.

Ethan: What is that?

The creature’s body began cracking.

Black particles peeled from its shoulders.

Creature: Find the door.

Ethan: What door?

The old key in his pocket became hot.

The creature noticed.

Its eyeless face turned directly toward the key.

Creature: He gave it to you again.

Ethan froze.

Ethan: Again?

The creature began dissolving faster.

Ethan rushed forward.

Ethan: Who is my grandfather?

The creature laughed weakly.

Creature: Wrong question.

Ethan: Then what should I ask?

Only half its body remained.

Creature: Ask whether he was always your grandfather.

Ethan stopped.

The creature leaned toward him.

Its final words came in a voice Ethan had never heard consciously, yet somehow recognized.

Riven’s Voice: Find us before the Tower does.

Then it vanished.

Black particles disappeared before touching the floor.

Silence filled the room.

A System notification appeared.

[SPECIAL ENCOUNTER COMPLETED.]

[ENTITY RECORD: ERASED.]

[REWARD: NONE.]

Another message followed.

[HIDDEN POTENTIAL ANALYSIS: 3%.]

Ethan stared.

Mina approached carefully.

Mina: Ethan.

He did not respond.

Mina: Ethan.

She touched his shoulder.

He finally looked at her.

Mina: Who was Riven?

The question stopped him.

Ethan: What?

Mina: At the end. The voice changed.

Ethan’s breathing slowed.

Mina: It sounded like someone else.

Ethan: You heard the name?

Mina shook her head.

Mina: No. But you said it.

Ethan had no memory of speaking.

Mina: You whispered Riven before it disappeared.

His stomach tightened.

The bedroom looked as though an animal had been trapped inside. Deep marks scarred the floor. The broken door hung from one hinge. Furniture had been overturned.

His parents were shaken but physically unharmed.

Yet there was no trace of the creature.

Except one.

A black mark remained near the bed.

A circle.

A Tower.

Broken ring.

Ethan crouched.

Mina: Don’t touch it.

Ethan: Reasonable advice.

Mina: Which means you’re about to ignore it.

Ethan: Probably.

Mina: Ethan.

He touched the mark.

The bedroom vanished.

There was no transition.

One moment he was crouched beside Mina.

The next—

White.

An endless white space surrounded him.

No visible floor. No walls. No ceiling.

Yet Ethan was standing.

Ethan: Where am I?

A voice answered behind him.

Unknown Voice: Earlier than you should be.

Ethan turned.

Nobody.

Ethan: Who are you?

Unknown Voice: Not yet.

Ethan: I’m getting very tired of those words.

Something almost like amusement passed through the space.

Unknown Voice: You said that last time.

Ethan froze.

Ethan: Last time?

A distant shape appeared.

A table.

Eight seats.

One by one, silhouettes occupied them.

Riven.

The name came first.

Then—

Aria.

Adrian.

Mina.

Noah.

Selene.

Kieran.

And Ethan.

Eight.

Ethan stared.

The silhouettes became clearer.

For one heartbeat, he saw them not as avatars but as people.

Young. Older. Changing through years.

School uniforms. Tournament jackets. Ordinary clothing. Computer screens. Meals. Celebrations. Arguments.

Fifteen years compressed into a single impossible instant.

Ethan staggered forward.

Ethan: I know them.

Unknown Voice: You did.

Ethan: Where are they?

Unknown Voice: Everywhere around you.

The white room fractured.

Ethan: Wait!

Unknown Voice: Remember the difference.

Ethan: Between what?

The voice answered as the world broke apart.

Unknown Voice: The life you lived... and the life you were given.

Ethan opened his eyes.

Mina was holding him upright.

Mina: Ethan!

He gasped.

Mina: You collapsed!

Ethan looked around wildly.

Bedroom. Broken door. Parents. Mina.

No white room.

Mina: How long?

Ethan: What?

Mina: You were unconscious for maybe ten seconds.

To Ethan, it had felt much longer.

Mina: What did you see?

He looked at her.

For the first time since the world changed, he knew one thing with certainty.

Mina existed in both sets of memories.

But the histories were different.

In one life, she had been his childhood friend.

In another, he had met her later.

Both felt real.

Ethan: Eight people.

Mina went still.

Ethan: I think I had a party.

Mina: In the game?

Ethan: I don’t know anymore.

The System appeared.

[MEMORY RESTORATION: 0.5%.]

[ORIGINAL PARTY RECORD: PARTIAL.]

[THE LAST DAWN.]

Ethan stared at the name.

This time it did not disappear.

Mina could not see the screen.

Ethan whispered it aloud.

Ethan: Last Dawn.

Something in Mina’s expression changed.

Very slightly.

As though the name had touched a locked door inside her too.

Mina: Why does that sound familiar?

Neither of them had an answer.

The following morning, Ethan went to the Hunter Association registration center.

He needed information from an institution that had apparently learned how to evaluate awakened Players within days.

More importantly, he wanted to know whether whatever lived inside him could be measured.

Hundreds of people had already formed lines outside the converted government complex.

Large signs marked separate areas.

AWAKENED REGISTRATION

RANK ASSESSMENT

ABILITY CLASSIFICATION

HUNTER IDENTIFICATION

Uniformed personnel controlled the entrances while clerks processed forms with the exhausted efficiency of people building an entirely new bureaucracy in real time.

Mina examined the line.

Mina: We might be here all day.

Ethan: Humanity rebuilt queuing immediately. Civilization survives.

Mina: You’re becoming funnier.

Ethan: Trauma response.

They eventually reached the assessment area.

A large crystal stood in the center of the room, reinforced by a metal frame. System text floated above it.

An examiner called the next person.

Examiner: Hand on the crystal. Hold still.

A young man obeyed.

The crystal glowed pale green.

[RANK: E]

The crowd murmured.

Next applicant.

[RANK: D]

Stronger reaction.

Ethan watched closely.

This was not the game’s ranking system.

The crystal was not measuring current combat strength alone.

The differences between some applicants’ levels and assigned ranks made that obvious.

Mina noticed his attention.

Mina: You figured something out.

Ethan: It’s measuring projected growth.

Mina: Potential?

Ethan: At least partly.

That word made him think of his own status.

Hidden Potential.

Locked.

Examiner: Next.

Mina stepped forward.

She placed her palm against the crystal.

The entire structure illuminated.

[C-RANK.]

The examiner looked up sharply.

Examiner: Class?

Mina: Healer.

Whispers spread immediately.

Applicant: C-rank Healer?

Another Applicant: Already?

Examiner: Full name?

Mina provided her current legal name quietly, too low for Ethan to focus on the surname.

The examiner entered the information quickly.

Examiner: You’ll probably be contacted by medical-response teams and licensed guild recruiters. You are not required to sign anything today.

Ethan appreciated that warning.

At least someone understood how aggressively valuable support classes would be recruited.

Mina returned to him looking uncomfortable.

Mina: Everyone is staring.

Ethan: Get used to it.

Mina: That wasn’t encouraging.

Examiner: Next.

Ethan stepped forward.

He placed his hand on the crystal.

Nothing happened.

Five seconds.

Ten.

The examiner frowned.

Examiner: Try removing your hand and placing it back.

Ethan did.

Nothing.

Examiner: Are you awakened?

Ethan: Yes.

Examiner: Level?

Ethan: Six.

Examiner: Class?

Ethan: None.

A laugh came from behind him.

Applicant: Level Six and classless?

Another voice answered.

Applicant 2: Why register?

Ethan ignored them.

The examiner attempted to reset the crystal.

Examiner: We occasionally get compatibility failures.

Ethan: What causes them?

Examiner: Unknown. Usually irregular or incomplete awakening.

Incomplete.

Ethan almost smiled at the accuracy.

The examiner marked his file.

[ASSESSMENT: UNREGISTERED.]

Examiner: You can return for reassessment after gaining additional levels or obtaining a class.

Ethan: Understood.

Mina met him at the edge of the platform.

Mina: That’s unfair.

Ethan: It’s useful.

Mina: How?

Ethan: Nobody cares about an unranked Level Six classless Hunter.

Mina stared at him.

Mina: You’re happy about this.

Ethan: Extremely.

He turned away.

Behind him—

Crack.

The entire hall went silent.

Ethan stopped.

A fracture ran across the assessment crystal.

Then another.

Crack.

The examiner backed away.

Examiner: Everyone step back!

The crystal shattered.

Fragments struck the reinforced frame but stopped before reaching the crowd.

A System message appeared above the remains.

[ERROR.]

[TARGET CANNOT BE MEASURED.]

Every eye in the hall turned toward Ethan.

Mina slowly looked at him.

Mina: So much for nobody caring.

Ethan: I noticed.

A private message appeared before him.

[HIDDEN POTENTIAL ANALYSIS: 4%.]

Then another.

[LEGACY AUTHORITY INTERFERENCE DETECTED.]

[ASSESSMENT SYSTEM INCOMPATIBLE WITH SUBJECT.]

And finally:

[CURRENT WORLD CLASSIFICATION: INVALID.]

Ethan’s expression hardened.

The public screen only showed the measurement error.

Nobody else could see what he saw.

At the rear of the registration hall, a man wearing a dark coat lowered a compact device.

Ethan did not notice him.

The man looked at the screen.

ETHAN VALE

[CURRENT CLASS: UNKNOWN]

[POTENTIAL: UNKNOWN]

[LEGACY SIGNAL: CONFIRMED]

[ORIGINAL PARTY RESONANCE: DETECTED]

The man’s hand tightened around the device.

For years, he had been waiting for one record to reappear.

Not merely Ethan Vale.

Something beneath it.

A corrupted field flickered.

[E—AN ELY—ION]

The man closed the device.

His expression held no surprise.

Only exhausted relief.

Unknown Man: After all these years...

He looked toward Ethan disappearing into the crowd beside Mina.

Unknown Man: ...we finally found him.