Chapter 1: Destruction Offline

Chapter 1: Destruction Offline

"Please!"

"Have mercy!"

'Nether, a dark elf, stood before me, begging for the lives of herself and her people. They had apparently invaded my territory.'

'Unfortunately, I lack the skill to communicate with them.'

'The only thing I can rely on is...'

'THIS!'

"Mercy?", a black-skinned toad with red eyes and yellow feet spoke.

*gulp*

'This is the only tool I have which can speak forme…'

'But it has a problem.'

"Quack-o-wack, what mercy? You should be dead! Dead, I say!" the toad spoke loudly, sticking its tongue out and pointing at Nether and her companions.

'Ah, fuck. I'm embarrassed, Zephyrak thought to himself, almost slamming his head.

'I want to hide… somewhere, anywhere.'

"Oh great lord, please, we beg of you," the dark elf was now on her knees, trembling after hearing the speaking toad.

Her clansmen were trembling too, kneeling and bowing in front of the great Lord of Destruction, Zephyrak.

'Ugh forgiveness? Yes, I am forgiving you, just get lost from here!'

"Forgiveness? You insects, you think you are worthy of that? Quack-o-wack!?"

Nether and her comrades, visibly trembling, knew not what to do.

The dark lord in front of them didn't want to let them go, that's what they understood. Well, indeed, it was their fault for trespassing in his area.

'It's all Nether's fault.'

'If only she hadn't asked us to come here to find a new territory, this would have never happened!'

All her clansmen were cursing at her, which obviously, she knew about.

She could feel their intensified and frightened stare as well.

'I didn't expect this…'

'I didn't expect such a strong being to reside here.'

'Even though I am Lv.183, I find even my bones trembling in fear…'

'This massive aura, he definitely is a being from a higher realm.'

'And judging from how he is dressed and his aura…'

'He must be a Dark Lord.'

The dark lord's outfit exuded an air of sinister grandeur. Clad in flowing, obsidian-black robes trimmed with crimson accents, adorned with intricate, ominous symbols. A sweeping cloak billows around them, concealing their face, and shrouding them in an aura of foreboding power.

'You shit-ass toad! Just convey my message properly!'

'Tell her, she can just leave.'

"Quack-o-wack! You can leave if you want to.", the toad conveyed what Zephyrak had in his mind.

'Yes! Finally! Although 9 out of 10 times it says useless stuff, at least, once it can tell what I have in my mind.', Zephyr was more than happy with this.

He had finally conveyed his message which put a smile on his face, however, for some reason, the dark elves seemed even more terrified.

"We swear our loyalty to you my lord!", all of them bowed and said this in synchrony.

'Huh? What!?'

"We swear to not leave this place!"

'No wai-'

"We promise that we will be useful even if it's only as pawns."

'NO! WHAT BULLSHIT ARE YOU ALL SPEWING!?'

'The dark lord is testing us…'

'You can leave if you want to? This is not a question. This is a threat!'

'If we try to leave, then by no means anything of our body except skeletons will make it out.', Nether and the rest thought the same thing.

"We swear our allegiance to the Lord of Destruction!", all of them had their right hand placed on the left side of the chest, as they remained kneeling.

'Sigh… how did it come to this?', Zephyrak, or rather, Ken Walter, rested his forehead on his hand, questioning the exact moment when all this started.

.

.

.

[1 month ago…]

"Take that!", Rogan, the leading star and rank 3 player of the VRMMORPG Destruction Online used a powerful spell, Chain Lightning.

His character: a human male with heavy white amour equipped with 3 spears, two on his back forming a cross and one in his hand.

He was battling his long-time rival, the rank 2 player, Kian Timothy, whose character was a Barbarian male wearing Earth-brown armour along with a necklace made out of skulls. He had a large axe along with it, equipped.

The fired chain lightning was interrupted as Kian erected an Earth Barrier from the ground, stamping his feet as hard as possible.

"YESS!"

Kian!

Kian!

Kian!

The chants grew louder as Kian, voted as the most handsome player of the game, finally appeared at the world championship and made his exceptional plays.

As for Rogan, he had his fair supporters, although not as many fangirls as Kian, but more than enough and especially those people who were attracted to his skills and game style.

Both of them were finally having their long-awaited battle, one in which their spots were at stake. But that was not the only thing!

They also fought to claim the title of the victor, to win the 100M USD and 3% ownership of the company that owns Destruction Online!

The match was obviously meant to be intense, with everyone gasping at different moves made by the players. It was exhilarating! It was fun!

But at the same time, it was not, for a certain someone.

Gasp!

'Ha…'

'Ha…'

'Dammit…', Ken Walter, otherwise known by his player name, Zephyrak, the rank 1 player of the game Destruction Online, found himself trapped in the confinements of a hospital.

At the mere age of 20, almost 21, he was forced to suffer from a Cerebral stroke, which potentially left him in a comatose state.

Despite being in a coma, he could hear everything very well. If someone lifted the eyelids for him, he could even see. Unfortunately, he had no way to let others know.

At the age of 15, he left his home. It was not because he wanted to live like an adult, it was because he had a fight with his mom.

At age 18, he became the rank 1 player, winning several championships.

At age 19, he made a girlfriend and created an orphanage and hospital under her name.

At age 20, he suffered from a cerebral stroke, leaving him in a… well, you know the rest.

As mentioned, despite being in a coma, he could hear very well. And considering the sharp hearing he had gained, he could easily hear the voices from the TV that was 10 metres away from him.

He could imagine all the moves being played by the players.

'I wish…'

'I wish I could play it again…', tears rolled down his eyes.

"AND…"

"WE HAVE OUR WINNER!"

"KIAN!"

The handsome dude successfully defeated Rogan and was now, the grand champion of the tournament.

"Please, this way.", the announcer called Kian, to have him crowned with the best player and give him his deserved trophy.

'Well, Kian is a good player. He deserves it.', Ken, he was genuinely happy!

But guess what, this happiness didn't last long.

The one who was called upon to hand over the trophy was Sophia, Ken's girlfriend.

Well, it was good only till here…

"WOOOO!"

"THEY KISSED!"

And boom, after having been awarded the trophy, Kian kissed Sophia and by no means did she reject him.

In fact, she accepted it gracefully.

Even if Ken didn't see it with his eyes, he was able to hear it!

'No…'

'What?'

'D-did my ear betray me at the last second?'

'Y-yea. That must be it… There is no way…'

'There is no way.'

'There is no way…', he kept repeating the same line for about 9,800 times!

It was the 9,801st turn to say it when the door opened and Sophia along with Kian, came to visit Ken.

Sophia gently kissed Ken's forehead as she said, "Forgive me, darling…"

"The doctors said that you might not wake up…"

"I can't wait for you and destroy my life… so, I have decided to marry Kian, your best friend.", she said.

Ken, could visualize a smirk on her face, an evil smirk!

Anger built inside him when he heard this.

There is no way… the phrase vanished.

"I'm sorry Ken…"

"But your girlfriend is hot. Too beautiful to be ignored…"

"Haha, and why are you acting Sophie? We fooled around even when he was perfectly fine. Why pretend as if you are leaving him now when you cheated on him since the start? Hahahaha.", Kian started to laugh, not too loudly, but indeed, he laughed.

Gasp!

Gasp!

Ken, despite being paralyzed for days unknown, clenched his right fist for the first time.

He wanted to punch the bastards. Unfortunately, he had no strength! He couldn't move!

His face had somewhat turned red, trying his best to get up, and wack the shit out of him! But no, his body refused.

He had no choice but to give up and remain humiliated forever!

He was about to give up considering that he was potentially useless, thinking what Sophia said was right, but all of a sudden, he heard yet another voice.

"How could you two!?", the voice was loud.

'This voice…'

'Nurse?', Ken remembered this voice.

It was the kind nurse who always took care of him, even during the night times. She would always speak to him and talk him about various news.

'Heck, even my mother didn't care this much for me!'

"What?", Sophia asked, making the ugliest face possible.

"How could you-"

"Hah, what has this got to do with you, bitch!?", Sophia rushed forward, grabbing her hair and slapping her.

"You!", the nurse also slapped back twice, and there was almost a war between two females when Kian stepped in and punched the Nurse's abdomen.

*cough*

"Ha…"

"This is the hospital for the orphanage."

"And you work here."

"It's under my name, how dare you raise your hands against me!?", Sophia asked as she punched three to four more times before the nurse almost lost her consciousness.

"Sophie, don't taint your hands…"

"I will have her fired. Let's leave, you need to be treated for now…", Kian pulled her away to treat her bleeding lips.

'Are you alright?', Ken tried to call out to her out of concern, only to forget that his voice couldn't reach her.

'…'

And just when he thought it would be useless to try and talk, she slowly approached him.

She tapped his head once or twice and said, "Am I fine you ask?"

"Hehe, yes, of course. No big deal.", she said, her eyes big and swollen, almost purple.

Ken could feel her hands trembling, more tears rolled down his eyes as he realized what she had gone through.

It was as if he could almost feel the pain that she underwent and the pain that she constantly felt.

'I'm sorry…', Ken apologized, crying much more for giving her unnecessary trouble due to him.

"Ha…"

"Don't cry…"

"You don't have to be sorry…", she murmured close to his ears.

"It's…"

"It's my fault…"

'No ma'am! It's not yours! Don't blame yourself.'

"If only I could do better…"

'No! You did your best!', Ken tried his best to console her, only if his words could reach her!

Although her replies did seem to match, it was all a coincidence and the replies were somewhat based on her experiences.

'You are a kind soul ma'am! You were there with me always!'

'Please!'

'You did nothing wrong!'

"If only…"

Sniff sniff

"If only I could be a better mother…"

"If only I had not left you alone all those years…"

'Huh?'

"If only I had stopped you from leaving back then…"

'Wha-'

"Sorry Kenny… Please forgive your mother…"

'Kenny? Only mom calls…'

'Mom…?'

Ken realized, the nurse who kept serving him since the day he was admitted, the one who told tales, gave happy news, and always wished for his best was none other than his own mom, the one whom he despised a lot!

Tears cascaded down his eyes, drenching his hair and the pillow underneath.

The realization hit hard.

Everyone he once knew, left him, but the one whom he left when he was young, now stood by his side.

The pain bore down and little happiness started to build.

It didn't take too long for the realization to give him the miraculous strength he needed!

"Mom…", he uttered the word, calling out to her for the first time in 5 years!

"I'm sorry.", he said as he for one last time, saw his mother right next to him, in deep sleep.

The night was long, but it didn't take much time for the sun to rise.

It was morning, the nurse woke up to the chirping noise of the birds as the sunlight fell on her face.

"Ah…"

"Good morning, Ken!", the first thing she did was wish the patient as she stretched her aching arms a bit.

"You know, I had a splendid dream yesterday…", she smiled.

Even after having wrinkles and bumps due to having been hit, she looked beautiful.

"I heard you spe-", and that's when her eyes went to the graph, the ECG, which contained nothing other than a straight line.

Having been set on silent mode, it made no noise… perhaps, it was a well-wisher who turned the sound function off to let his mother sleep peacefully.

Author's Note: If you liked the story so far, do add the book to your library and help me out by voting for a power stone/ golden ticket. Do add some comments to the book to keep it lively and if any mistakes are found, do let me know. Lastly, this book ain't perfect. I am constantly trying to improve daily. So please love it for what it is.