A phone dropped onto the dark asphalt and bounced, slightly hovering in the air as the glass shattered, yet it didn't fall. It seemed like, for just a moment, that the glass danced in the air. It paused. A flash of red barrelled around a corner emitting a noise that drowned out his senses. The glass glistened once more and splintered like ice across a frozen lake. The blur of red got closer. Too fast. Too bright. Too violent. But before he even realised it–
Junwoo shot up and choked on the air. Sweat clung to his skin and with quick heavy breaths, inhaling, exhaling rapidly, he finally came to his senses. Another nightmare.
Junwoo lost count of the days he'd spent in this place. It had been over a week, maybe a couple. He wasn't sure.
What seemed like a nightmare is now his new reality, and whatever he keeps seeing in his dreams are the real nightmares.
Junwoo had a lot of doubts. He wasn't sure who he was, or what his nightmares were trying to tell him, but they were recurring. Every night, without fail, it's the same. A red blur, loud noises and a faceless man dropping a phone.
The only thing he was sure about was that Kaelsu stuck to a schedule recently. He'd log in for an hour in the day, then leave. Then come back a few hours later until night time, then leave.
His old schedule meant that he'd spend a lot more time in the game during the night, but now he doesn't. What's changed?
Even though he could swear he used to be a Human, he doesn't remember the first thing about it. What do Humans do in the day?
Junwoo hates to admit it, but he gets bored when Kaelsu leaves. While he felt safer when he could board himself in his room undisturbed, all he could do was stare at the ceiling and wait. After trashing the house, he wasn't allowed outside of the room without supervision.
But this time was different, standing in the doorway in shock was Kaelsu.
"Are you okay?" He must've witnessed him waking from the nightmare.
"A nightmare," Junwoo softly spoke. "It's nothing." He shook his head. It happens. "Where are we going today?"
Kaelsu shuffled. There was something on the edge of his lips, lingering on the tip of his tongue. His hand found its way on his pet's head in between his fluffy golden ears and ruffled his hair.
He was… petting him?!
His hands felt like warm pillows, scratching just the right spots. Behind his ears, moving down to his chin and he let slip a soft purr…
Junwoo scrambled to the wall shying away from the hand, his back pressed against it while on the bed. His hands stuck between grasping the sheets and rubbing the part of his head that Kaelsu just touched.
"What the hell was that for?"
Kaelsu smiled and moved forward, half leaning over the bed.
"I'm petting you." He did it again, this time there was nowhere for his little pet to run away from.
His face was right red, he was largely embarrassed but didn't want to admit that it felt nice. Junwoo placed his hands on Kaelsu's gloved hand to stop the petting motion. Kaelsu giggled at the response.
Then dug his claws into his skin. Simultaneously, the collar flashed again and sent a pain down his spine, equal to what he just inflicted on his master.
-50 hp.
Kaelsu retracted his hand in pain. "Ouch, why?! You were clearly enjoying that! Don't act like I didn't just hear you purr."
"Yeah, ouch, what the hell, why did you shock me?" Junwoo fought back. Their heads butted again.
"I didn't shock you, that's what happens when you attack your summoner. How do you not know this?"
Then it hit Kaelsu, whose face softened after realising that this was yet another conversation with his pet that felt too real. He's been trying to distance himself from the game, but this weird bond he has with his pets keeps bringing him back.
"We're going to the Abyssal Crown today. Are you ready, Azadeus?"
Whiplash. How did this guy go from softly petting him and giggling to serious and distant?
"Yeah, sure," he mumbled and removed himself off the bed.
Kaelsu opened a menu and pressed some buttons on the menu. Junwoo could roughly read the menu as the equipment menu. "I've bought you some new equipment to help you stay alive. Your sustain isn't as good as I need it to be."
As he spoke, Junwoo's equipment started to change. His equipment changed from his standard white robes to a layered white tunic, with golden rims.Two brown belts encircled his waist, and a long white overcoat appeared on top. The trim ended just above his ankles. Brown fingerless gloves and boots were equipped last.
"This gear is level 100 and the stat bonus gives you an additional 10% HP and Magic damage."
Although, saying that, he sneaked a look at his stats again. Still mostly question marks and blanks. He really thought that would do something to clear up the obscurities.
…
The pair were well on their way to the dungeon. They had a few fights – with other monsters and of course each other. Junwoo felt the warming swirl of a level up twice while on the way, though neither of them were really sure what level he was.
He definitely felt stronger, much stronger and he even showcased a new ability: Spirit Crush. It was prompted after being backed into a corner, ambushed by multiple monsters closing in on him. The other member of the party was on 1 HP and was hidden behind Junwoo, who was standing in a defensive position with his claws out.
The enemies were towering demon-like creatures with goat horns protruding from their heads, eyes sharp, horizontal and orange. They were bipedal, just like Junwoo, but their shins extended much higher than his entire body. Black wings with blunt tips and a leathery texture sprouted from their backs. These monsters were definitely products of monster evolution, Junwoo knew he wasn't a match for these guys.
Kaelsu stood to the side, protected as a summoner until his pets fall, but frantically tapped on menu items to apply buffs and healing to his monsters. He'd chant spells to assist in battle, but his damage was severely limited.
A fire burned in the fox's chest that turned into rage, his claws started to glow a shade similar to lava and a ball of electric blue energy burst from his chest that wrapped tightly around the enemies and constricted them. They were being strangled by the strange light that emitted from him. Agonising screams came from the enemies while Junwoo crouched to the ground and started to wind up to finish them off.
And that was how he obtained his Spirit Crush.
Kaelsu thought the fight was off-putting. It's abnormal to hear monsters, whether tamed or untamed, to scream with such pain. It really sounded like their souls were being choked. He had also never seen any of his monsters commit such brutality.
He could recall watching glowing claws slashing through enemies and swiping 'til they were a bloody mess. Then they retracted.
Kaelsu had never seen such anger take over Azadeus. For a moment, it was like he lost him.
"G-Good job," Kaelsu stammered and took a cautious step away. He dismissed the other pets in his team to allow for them to recover and they vanished in a flash of purple. As expected, the human/fox hybrid did not return.
They were outside of the dungeon. Kaelsu had just finished healing his team. Everyone on the forums said the road to the Abyssal Crown was treacherous, but he didn't expect it to be that bad. He'd made it here once before, but didn't have any issues getting through.
"I'm not at work tomorrow, so we'll spend a couple of hours grinding this. I don't know when we'll be able to leave once we enter."
Something clicked.
"Work?" Junwoo questioned, it was almost like a fire it up in his eyes. Something about that word struck a chord with him, but he couldn't figure out what.
Kaelsu stared at the entrance. It was a forest green portal that swirled around, until the middle turned into a deep void. It was ready to absorb them. Their steps were full of confidence as they walked through the portal and the void spat them out on the other side moments later.
Kaelsu had only been here once. It was as horrific as he remembered: corpses everywhere; rotting flesh and gravel littered about all over the floor.
Junwoo could smell the vile, rotting flesh. He glanced towards Kaelsu who didn't seem bothered at all about it. He supposed he couldn't smell it?
The floor suddenly started to shake, tremors and rattling, the ground moved as if it had a fierce itch. Gravity felt crushing as the ground started to elevate faster and faster, throwing the team off balance.
Kaelsu's heart felt warm when he felt a certain fox grab onto him out of pure shame. He dug his face into his leg and shook violently with the ground. "Azadeus," he whispered softly and placed a soothing hand on his golden head.
Then, it stopped.
The movement had ceased almost as abruptly as it started. Junwoo, feeling slightly embarrassed at the scene, quickly recovered and jumped back. His face shied away to hide the hot burst of red that coated his cheeks.
The moment was over when they heard growling, and their HP bars appeared above their heads. It was time to fight again.