A Starry Night

An expanse of black spanned all of what he could see, occasionally lit by fluorescent yellow, orange, and red meteors. All of which could be seen swiftly disintegrating like sugar in water. He could only wonder where he sat, it definitely wasn't the world he once knew.

A young man lay on his bed staring at the clock across from him, after some moments of self bargaining he forced himself up.

"Another day" He repeated to himself, as he took his stance up from the bed. He stood only 5'6 and thin, with threads of long blonde hair coming falling from his head.

He grinned looking at a text from his mom that showed his two parents smiling on vacation. Responding "Can't wait to be there with you guys" while scoffing to himself.

He continued with the typical morning routine of brushing his teeth, showering, and dressing all sluggishly.

A simple look at the man's apartment spoke to his loneliness, with it being bare besides the essentials and showing almost no sins of life that you'd expect in a typical 20-year-old's apartment. 

But there was one item that stuck out of the drab of his apartment, a large multicolored box that sat on the kitchen table, filling it almost entirely. He eyed it, smirking, and then quickly moved over to it with a cup of coffee in his hand. 

"Are you ready for fun" he spoke to himself as he opened the large box and revealed a combination of rulebooks, figures, and boards. Board games had become his hobby of late and left him trapped inside his kitchen for many days on end.

And it seemed today would be another one of these days as he began to play the intricate board game, becoming sucked into the otherwordly fantasy. For hours he sat, going through dungeons and castles, sometimes enraged and other times full of glee, following his character through the story. 

"Damnit!" Neil yelled after a particularly rough fight, tossing the game figure into the kitchen table, where it broke into pieces. He stared at the remnants for a minute before sighing and standing up.

Walking over to a nearby door he grabbed a coat and went out into the world that he had been avoiding as much as possible.

He hurried out of his home and began a brisk walk on the streets of the city he lived in, avoiding people as best as possible, deciding no contact would be best. He cared little for the atmosphere of the city and paid little attention to anything, instead walking on a set course.

In doing so he overheard the sound of a nearby scuffle and did his best to try and avoid it. He didn't consider himself a callous and indifferent person but in truth he had little care of those around him, placing his comfort over much. 

"Please No!! I'll give you everything I have, just leave my child!!" The sudden cry was loud enough that it almost made Neil laugh, it was as though the cry was made for him. He staggered some but continued forward.

"These things happen in a city," He told himself, but looking up he saw two men, each with a gun at their waist. He pivoted and began to walk even quicker back in the other direction, not willing to risk anything. 

NOOO!!" Again he heard the woman cry out from the alley and this time was unable to convince himself to continue forward, instead cautiously approaching the alley. 

Within the alley, he saw many people. A larger group of men with an assortment of knives had huddled around a single mother and her young child.

"A single mother being threatened and disturbed by a group of thugs, it's like it's out of a damn story." He mumbled to himself.

"Hey, who are you!?" One of the thugs of the group yelled upon seeing Neil. Now he knew that he was stuck in this situation as there'd be no talking his way out. Nonetheless, he hoped he might be able to buy time through some acting.

"I'm just a passerby who became worried at the sounds of screams from this ally so I felt I should check it out. Why not leave that woman and her child alone and I'll give you what I have on me in exchange." He didn't know what was causing him to act so kindly for the unknown woman but the situation seemed to play on his emotions, and the scared stare of the women and child only further pushed him to continue his chivalry.

"How about we instead just take the money from both of you and take this woman with us?" another thug let out, causing the group to laugh some in agreeance.

At this point, Neil's chivalrous streak died cold and he began to turn. Hoping if he moved slowly enough he would go unnoticed by the group. 

"Where do you think you're going" Another thug yelled to him. Causing him to begin a dead sprint out of the alley.

He could hear the scuffle of feet behind him and only tried to move even quicker when he began to feel the emptiness of his stomach. His entire body ached and he began to slow, hoping the thugs were distracted by the women.

As he slowed he turned around and felt the puncture of something entering his ribs, one of the thugs had caught up to him and rammed his blade deep into Neil's chest. 

He immediately fell from the immense pain and shock of what happened and began to cough and roll on the ground, when another thug joined the first and they both began to kick him relentlessly.

After a flurry of kicks, the two thugs went through Neil's pockets and then left him there on an empty street, bleeding out. They had no desire to be arrested for murder so they decided what they got off of Neil was enough for the time.

Neil lay on the cold hard concrete, now all alone and unable to speak. In his last moments, all he could think about was the immense pain felt and how unfair life had been. He was mad at the world for putting him in such danger, and mad at the women for coaxing him into that alley. HE gasped out breaths and eventually lot even the strength for that, closing his eyes and coming to a final rest.

Yet he opened his eyes to see a sight more beautiful than any other he had witnessed. In an unknown place at an unknown time, he sat, gazing out into a vast black night occasionally lit by flares of fluorescent light. Underneath his feet lay soft sand and it seemed this flat expanse stretched on for miles upon miles.

He was very willing to accept that this might indeed be heaven, with its sheer beauty and uniqueness, that was until he realized he recognized this scene. It was the very beginning of one of his favorite board games, Archemia. His eyes widened with surprise and excitement, he had somehow been transported into a board game he knew and loved.

"Oh, this is going to be fun!!" He yelled into the night sky with a smile that covered his entire face.