A Dance With Swords

Harsh Reality My Old Friend

"Harsh reality my old friend" I said to myself. I hoisted myself up out of bed and disconnected my headset from my computer. "Only took two hours huh? It was pretty easy for the third to last raid." I said. I walked downstairs and saw a plate on the kitchen work top with a note. "Had to go away for business. Be gone all week. Money's in the usual place". It was from my parents. If they weren't away on business they were at fancy parties or at movies or film festivals. I shouldn't complain. I mean they treated me alright, I are well, I had everything I wanted. Except a normal family, something I'd found on ADWS. I picked up the phone, Ordered myself some pizza and sat on the couch. Another night alone.

My alarm buzzed loudly and I jolted awake. I'd fallen asleep on the couch again. A regular occurrence. My alarm continued to buzz over and over again. I reached over and clicked my phone open and turned it off. "Time for that hell I call school." I said to the house, knowing nobody could hear. I got up off the couch and went for a shower. After my shower I got myself dressed, avoiding my uniform like the plague, I chose skinny jeans, a Drop Dead t-shirt and a blue hoodie, along with my converse. Once I was dressed, I walked down the stairs and left my house locking the door. The walk to school was short as ever, just around the corner. My parents had wanted me to go to a private school but I'd refused, preferring public school. Or at least the concept of it anyway. I walked through the front concourse, hearing the bell ring. I walked into registration and the room was full of the usual buzz of activity. The popular kids in the corner were fighting about something, and talking about how they were friend with Zack on ADWS. When they noticed me come in they blanked me entirely and I didn't blame them. They were popular. I was nobody.

They just looked at me and laughed. "Hey, how's the level twenty character coming on ADWS?! Haha such a loser, maybe one day you'll join the big leagues with people like us haha" one of them said. A Dance With Swords was the most popular game in the world right now, and the level of your character determined how cool you were. I had no friends so everyone assumed I was a low level because I couldn't do the raids without friends. If only they knew that the worlds best ADWS player, their friend in game, the person who had just finished the third to last raid with, was me. I didn't need anyone to finish raids. I finished the first 67 levels of the nexus on my own, I needed nobody. The popular kids, I knew them as Pug, Aerith, Nerd, Sammi and Senpai. I'd never actually got their real names.... Never got close enough to any of them in real life. They all thought Zack was a Japanese player who had got the game in it's Beta version. They were right about the Beta version, just not the Japanese part. I got the beta from Japan, that was all. I helped them because in the game, they were my friends, my only friends. I remember the day Pug faced me and this friendship formed.....

It was on the Waking Fields that Pug decided to fight me, with her entourage watching on in earnest. The two best players, in a fight to the death. One character would be wiped from the game forever, the other would live to carry on as the games best. I was dressed in my usual, jet black sweeping jacket, jet black sweeper shoes and a jet black shirt. The same thing I wore now. It had never changed. I didn't need heavy armour if I didn't plan on getting hit. Armour was for those who wanted to survive getting hit, I didn't want to get hit at all. Pug stood facing me, her Battle Mace buried in the dirt in front of her. "You came!?" They shouted. I merely nodded in response. I knew who they were already, knew they were from school. "They said you were the silent type. But I never expected this." They said to me. "Are you prepared to fight? Because I challenge you Zack. A fight to the death." They shouted. I sighed and nodded my head, drawing my sword. Opting for StormBreaker. The crowd that had gathered gasped at the sword. "What sword is that?!" Pug shouted. "It's hand crafted. It's called StormBreaker" I said. "Naming weapons? Only show offs name their weapons." They replied before charging forward roaring.

They swung their mace and buried it into the ground where I once stood. Looking up they saw I had moved about three centimetres back the way. Smirking they swung up the way attempting to hit me in the face. I dodged and ducked every swing they sent my way. "Predictable movements. I've learned these combos. Use your head" I said. It was true. I knew all the prefixed combos in the game. I could dodge them all. They began to swing frantically at me in a desperate bid to hit me. They swung up the way and I back flipped out of the way. Landing several metres away I stood up. "Better" i said. They charged me again, their mace held high above their head. I pulled my sword up and with the flat end slammed it into their stomach. "Defenceless. I could have killed you there and then. Left yourself open" I said monotonously. They collapsed catching their breath and their friends started to run to their aid. "DONT! I don't need help! He's mine!" She screamed. I turned my back to her. "We are done here" I said walking away. I heard them stand up and charge at me. They swung their mace down, meaning ton strike my head. I flicked my sword up and split their mace in half. "I won't kill another player" I said and walked off into the distance, leaving them collapsed to their knees. A few days later they found me in a tavern and asked to train with me, so I did just that. I trained them and their friends, and we started raiding together.

Even though they reacted with hostility in real life, I couldn't blame them. They didn't know who i was and they never would. I didn't want people to find out who I was. The worlds best player gets no privacy at all. So I put up with their abuse in school knowing that when I went home and logged onto ADWS they would fight with me, rather than against me. And we would be friends and that would be it. No complications. I'd have friends again. For the first time in a long time, I felt like I belonged somewhere.