Prologue

Bored out of my mind, I mindlessly scrolled through my phone in search of something to entertain myself.

It's been a month since the beginning of quarantine and I have long run out of things to waste my time on. Tv shows? Went through most of those worth watching. Books? Already read through those that I didn't find annoying.

As the last resort, I turned my attention to the App Store. In no way was I a huge fan of mobile games but desperate times call for desperate measures.

First things first, I dealt with a few apps that for whatever reason didn't want to update automatically and switched over to the games tab.

Scrolling down, I soon ran into the 'New Games We Love' section, and oddly enough, instead of the usual longwinded list of second rate time wasters, the section was empty save for a single game.

"MonstersAR," I read aloud. "Is this some sort of bug?"

Curious, I clicked on the lonely icon to find out more about the game, and quite frankly, I was disappointed. According to the introductory video and the description, augmented reality monster battles were the main theme and it seemed to be just another ripoff of PokemonGo. Though it did deserve some praise for the art quality, as most of the monsters in the video looked uncannily realistic.

Seeing as it was free and I had nothing better to do, I clicked install. Won't hurt to find out if the game matched with the hyped-up introduction.

It took about a minute for the game to load and without wasting any more time, I started it up.

The first thing that showed up was some bold white text on a black background that read, "God Inc. presents, 'Monsters: Actualized Reality'"

"God Inc.? Actualized Reality? What are these guys trying to pull?" I questioned, taking a sip of beer to moisten my throat.

Soon, the game finished loading and I was presented with the usual registration process. Not willing to waste more time than necessary, I put in my actual age, 25, and chose Adam as the game id. After accepting the terms and conditions without even bothering to read through them, I was finally led to the actual game.

Unfortunately, most of the functions in the game menu were greyed out and a blinking arrow insisted that I click on what seemed to be a mailbox. Following the obvious instructions, I clicked on where I was told to and was promptly presented with a letter titled "'Newcomer's Gift'.

Opening the letter, I skipped through the paragraph-long welcome from the game producers and clicked 'claim', earning myself a size-able list of gifts:

• Summoning card x1

• Attribute-less Evolution card(Rare) x1

• Lesser Spirit Up card x5

• Lesser Heal card x5

• Resurrection card x1

• Blank card x5

Next, the arrow directed me to my inventory, and this time, I received a line of instructions, "What kind of Monster Trainer are you without an actual tamed monster to your name? Use the Summoning card to receive your first monster."

Getting the hint, I tapped on the Summoning card and was automatically transferred to the Summoning Chambers tab. Reading through the tedious description that could be summed up to using the card to get a single Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic, or Legendary level 1 monster. With drop rating depending on the strength of the monsters, the rankings become pretty self-explanatory.

After tapping on the 'Begin Summoning x1' button, my phone's screen lit up with a rainbow of colors that converged into a golden framed card. It depicted a white tiled floor with a humanoid shadow stretching across the surface. The only defining feature of the shadow was a menacing crown worn on its head.

"So my monster is some sort of crowned shadow?" I mumbled absentmindedly.

Tapping on the card, it flipped over and displayed the monster's description on the back:

———

Name: King Sombra

Rating: Legendary

Type: Shadow

Attribute: Darkness

Level: 1 (0/100 Exp)

<Stats>

Strength: N/A

Agility: N/A

Endurance: N/A

Spirit: 10

<Talents>

[Birth Right](Legendary)

A born sovereign, King Sombra has discarded the inherent weakness of his race and holds unlimited growth potential.

• Level cap increased to 100.

• Gains 5 stat points per level up.

• Despite being a Darkness-attributed monster, he doesn't possess a weakness against Light-based attacks.

[Shadow Form](Epic)

As a being of shadows, King Sombra was born without the shackles of physical flesh.

• Doesn't grow tired so long as he has enough spiritual power to sustain himself.

• Immune to Normal-based damage.

<Skills>

[Shadow Manipulation](Legendary)

King Sombra can freely manipulate his body and nearby shadows to a deadly effect. Be it to skewer his foes with omnipresent shadow spears, raise up a tangible curtain of shadows to defend against incoming attacks, or to simply strangle an unsuspecting cur with his own shadow - all is only a thought away for the sovereign of shadows himself.

• Range: 10m*level

• Number: 2 shadows*level

• Potency is calculated based on the Spirit stat*3

• Shadows controlled in this way do not benefit from Normal-damage immunity.

[Shadowmeld](Epic)

King Sombra can completely meld with any existing shadow, becoming effectively undetectable.

• The effect breaks if he moves or uses any of his skills.

———

"A legendary on the first draw?" I said, growing a tad interesting.

Done with the description, I closed down the card and another line of instructions appeared, "Great! Now that you have your first monster, let's get him settled into your team."

After I tapped continue, I was forwarded to the Monster Barracks section. It had two tabs: Storage and Team.

Following the arrows instructions, I moved King Sombra from the unlimited Storage into the Team tab, which only had 6 slots. Apparently, only the monsters kept in the Team tab can be used for battles and I only have a single chance per day to switch the monsters between the Storage and Team tabs.

After dumping all that information on me, I received further instructions, "Amazing! Now that your team is geared up and ready to go, you can try invoking your monster."

Choosing to continue, I was asked to give 'MonsterAR' access to my Camera. After accepting, my display switched to the camera view, with an overlaid picture of a red pentagram.

Next, I was asked to stabilize my phone to align the pentagram with my floor. It took a bit of fiddling around but soon enough, the pentagram turned green and with that, a line of text was added to the overlay, "Wonderful job! Now to invoke your monster, simply repeat the phrase: 'King Sombra, I invoke thee!'"

"Voice control?" I wondered and cleared my throat. "King Sombra, I invoke thee!"

"What the!?" I stumbled back as the overlay in my camera display began to project itself into reality. Line by line, symbol by symbol, something was etched onto my carpet by an invisible force. It took mere moments until it was complete.

For a second nothing really happened as I stood staring at the glowing green pentagram in the middle of my apartment. Though the moment of peace quickly come to a close as shadowy tendrils escaped from the confines of the pentagram. Silently, they stretched along one of my walls, slithering all the way up to the ceiling and soon transformed into a disproportionate humanoid silhouette made of pure shadows, with a crown of undulated darkness adorning its head. Sticking to hard surfaces, It loomed menacingly over my modest frame.

Having to face a monster straight out of some grim fairy tale, I was left completely out of my element. My brain worked in overtime and seeing that the monster wasn't in rush to turn me into a midnight snack, I chanced a peek at my phone.

The blasted piece of technology was at fault for my current predicament and my only hope now is that it deigns to provide me with a way to survive.

A new line of text appeared on the screen, "Amazing! Now try commanding your monster to use a skill by calling its name."

I gulped. Commanding this monstrosity? Is this thing seeking my death!?

Though not seeing any other alternatives, I resigned myself to do as instructed. Parsing through my memory, I stopped my choice on one of the more harmless skills in the deadly repertoire of my monster.

"Shadowmeld," I said firmly, my nerves as taut as a string.

The motionless giant finally moved and for a moment there, I thought that it will finish me off for daring to open my mouth. Fortunately, that moment soon came to pass, and faster than my eyes could follow, Sombra's form split up into tendrils of darkness that seamlessly merged into my shadow.

For about a minute, I stood petrified, not daring to move a muscle. The pentagram has long disappeared and without a sign of the monster in sight, I was seemingly once again all alone in my lovely apartment.

Feeling as my tense nerves began to loosen up, I tentatively turned my head to take a glance at my shadow.

"You still there?" I asked the empty air.

My shadow enlarged and wriggled a little in response.

"Well, F..." I promtly cut myself off, just in case the shadow finds my cussing offensive.