Virtuosity | Dreamnoblade

Chapter 1

Walking through the aisles, Techno repeated four words to himself, near silently.

"Milk, butter, bread, cheerios, milk, butter, bread, cheerios,"

He had forgotten these four essential items the last time he had been to the store. "Damn ADHD," he muttered to himself. Meandering through the store, he slowly gathered the items he had forgotten the last time. Having gotten all that he needed, me made his way to the checkout, but not before grabbing a multitude of other items he didn't need.

Waiting in the checkout line, he thought he could hear the sound of a piano being played in the distance. He listened, but couldn't tell what was being played. Besides, with the mall being at its busiest, he doubted he would have been able to hear a piano from so far away.

"Sir?" a voice asked. Turning, Techno noticed an empty conveyor belt and a concerned looking cashier. Realising he had spaced out listening to the likely in-his-head piano, he quickly started to put his groceries on the conveyor. "Damn ADHD," he once again muttered to himself. Patiently waiting for the cashier to scan and bag the groceries, Techno thought of the piano playing again.

'No one ever plays that piano, every time I've walked by, it has been covered in a thick layer of dust,' he thought to himself. 'But what if there was someone, playing the piano?' This line of thought was cut off by the same voice from before.

"Sir? Are you all right?" the cashier asked, concern growing on her face.

"Hm? Yeah, I'm good," Techno responded. "How much was it again?"

"$37.68," the cashier answered. 'Shit! When had it gotten so expensive?' Techno thought to himself. He then looked at the bags and realised he had grabbed much more than he needed. "Damn ADHD," he muttered for a final time. Begrudgingly, he paid the due amount and went on his way.

Walking to the exit, his mind wandered again, back to the piano he had heard before. He thought about whether he should walk to the area in which it was situated. 'Screw it,' he thought to himself, 'Walking never killed anyone.'

Making his way to where he remembered the piano was, the unmistakable sound of a piano being played entered his hearing. Walking to the origin of the beautiful playing, he noticed the crowd becoming denser and denser. Soon, he found himself unable to get any closer to the piano, barely able to see the piano, let alone the performer. This was about as uncomfortable as he could be in public, sandwiched between a plethora of strangers, with no apparent escape route if something went wrong.

Recognising the closing chords of Rachmaninoff's Prelude in C Sharp Minor, he found himself disappointed that he had missed most of the piece. The performer was able to put so much emotion into the final chords that Techno didn't know how impactful the rest would have been. Although disappointing, he found that the piano calmed him, taking his mind off the fact that he was in a massive crowd of strangers. The piano soon fell silent, and the large crowd that had gathered clapped and cheered for the performer.

The crowd soon dispersed, and Techno started walking back to the exit. He thought of turning around and trying to get a glimpse of who the performer was, but he decided against it. 'He'll be back another time,' he told himself. Walking through the parking lot, he found his car and began to drive home.

-

"How is Dream already in the Nether?!" George exclaimed, his disbelief echoed by his teammates.

"Dream you are such a try-hard," Sapnap continued. All that could be heard from Dream's end was laughter at their expense, as he was running through the Nether.

"How are you guys so bad?" The speedrunner asked, entering a Nether fortress. The group had done countless videos with the same premise of them attempting to stop himself from beating the game that he was surprised at how unprepared they were. In fact, he was surprised the group even did the videos anymore.

"We aren't the ones who make a living off of speedrunning Minecraft!" George countered. The Brit thought he had caught Dream out.

"No, but you are the ones who make a living off of catching a speedrunner in Minecraft," Dream cheekily clapped back. George didn't respond.

Dream began to run back to the portal, having gathered all the materials he needed for the finale. As he rounded the corner where his portal was, he heard George shout.

"There he is Sapnap! Get him before he escapes!"

"He's too far away! He's going to get through!"

Dream was laughing as he heard his friends trying, and failing, to catch him. He knew, though, that once he got back into the overworld, it wasn't going to be easy. Now in the portal, he spent the few precious seconds of rest to stretch his fingers, feeling a slight amount of pain from holding the mouse for so long. Landing in the overworld, he put his hand back on his mouse and got to winning.

"Guess what George?" Dream said with an audible smirk.

"What Dream?" George responded, near exasperated.

Dream has made the achievement [The End?]

"WHAT?!" Was all that could be heard from the two friends, as Dream entered the end portal, and got to beating the game. He knew they wouldn't be too far behind, so he had to make use of the few minutes before they made it difficult for him.

"GEORGE HIT HIM, HIT HIM GEORGE. THE ENDER DRAGON IS ALMOST DEAD!" Sapnap yelled, not wanting to lose again.

"I'M TRYING!" George yelled right back at his teammate.

"HE'S GOING TO- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The frustration in the two's voices, having lost again, was audible. Dream couldn't help but laugh at their misfortune—the misfortune of having to try and beat Dream. As Dream ran around, collecting the XP that had dropped, George ran over and finally killed Dream. It was a shame that Dream fight back, nor did he care. He had won, again, and that was all that mattered.

Finishing the recording, Dream got up and went to his kitchen. 'I'll edit the video tomorrow,' he told himself. Grabbing a glass from his cupboard, he winced. He put the glass down and flexed his fingers while holding his wrist, hoping the pain would go away.