The chocolate bar had been a mistake.
Ten minutes after eating it, his stomach cramped so hard he had to stop and lean against a streetlight because his body wasn't used to sugar anymore, not after weeks of scraping by on whatever he could find. The cramps passed but left him feeling weaker than before.
[Distance: 35 km. Time Remaining: 4 hours, 45 minutes.]
The city was getting darker as street lights flickered on and this was usually when he'd find somewhere safe to hide for the night, under a bridge or behind a dumpster, anywhere people wouldn't bother him.
But he couldn't stop, not now.
His feet were the first real problem since he'd been wearing the same pair of shoes for three months, and they'd been secondhand when he found them. Now, after 35 kilometers of concrete and asphalt, they were basically falling apart and he could feel every piece of gravel through the worn soles while blisters had formed, popped, and formed again.
At 40 kilometers, he saw blood seeping through the canvas.
'Just ignore it, pain is just your body being dramatic.'
That's what his old track coach used to say back when he was in middle school, back when running was fun and not a matter of survival.
He turned down a side street to avoid a group of players heading home from a dungeon who were laughing and comparing loot, their armor still glowing with enchantments while one of them had a sword worth more than most people's cars.
'That could be me, will be me, just gotta finish this.'
His nose started bleeding at 45 kilometers, not a little trickle but a proper flow that splattered on his shirt and left drops on the sidewalk. He didn't have anything to stop it with, so he just let it run.
A woman walking her dog saw him coming and crossed to the other side of the street while the dog barked at him, sensing something wrong.
'Yeah, I probably look like a zombie right now.'
[Distance: 48 km. Time Remaining: 3 hours, 2 minutes.]
The math was getting harder as his brain felt fuzzy and thoughts came slow and strange, but even he could figure out he was cutting it close, too close.
He tried to pick up the pace but his legs just wouldn't respond since they were moving on their own now, a shuffling jog that was barely faster than walking while every step sent shooting pains up through his knees into his hips.
At 50 kilometers, he hit the wall.
Not a real wall but the wall, that thing marathon runners talked about where your body just says "nope" and shuts down. His legs turned to jelly and his vision went gray at the edges as he stumbled, caught himself, then stumbled again.
'No, no no no, not now.'
He made it another hundred meters before his knees buckled and he went down hard, skinning his palms on the concrete while the timer kept ticking in his vision, mocking him.
[Distance: 50.3 km. Time Remaining: 2 hours, 41 minutes.]
Almost thirty kilometers left and at this pace, he'd never make it.
He lay there for a minute, maybe two, watching the blood from his nose pool on the sidewalk while his whole body was shaking, not little trembles but full-body convulsions like he was having a seizure.
'Get up.'
He told his legs to move but they ignored him.
'Get up!'
Nothing.
A memory surfaced unbidden, Kana in the courtroom crying those fake tears. "He just stood there," she'd said, like he was some kind of monster who watched his best friend die and did nothing.
The anger came hot and sudden as he slammed his fist into the concrete, adding split knuckles to his list of injuries.
"GET UP!"
This time his body listened and he pushed himself to his knees, then to his feet while the world spun. He took a step and almost fell again but he didn't fall, he kept moving.
The next twenty kilometers were a blur of pain and determination, he wasn't really running anymore, just stumbling forward with purpose while people actively avoided him now, this bloody, shambling mess of a person lurching through their neighborhoods.
At some point, he started laughing, quiet at first then louder, and it wasn't funny because nothing about this was funny but he couldn't stop.
'This is insane, I'm literally killing myself for a video game quest.'
[Distance: 73 km. Time Remaining: 0 hours, 45 minutes.]
Seven kilometers in forty-five minutes, he could do this, he had to do this.
His body had other ideas.
At 75 kilometers, his legs gave out completely with no warning, no gradual weakness, just one second he was moving and the next he was face-down on the pavement. He tried to get up and literally couldn't because his muscles had nothing left to give.
He crawled.
Hands and knees like a baby, like an animal, leaving bloody handprints every few feet while people were recording him now, phones out, probably posting to their social media about this crazy homeless guy.
'Don't care, almost there.'
[Distance: 78 km. Time Remaining: 0 hours, 12 minutes.]
Two kilometers in twelve minutes and the math didn't work since at this pace, he'd need at least twenty minutes, maybe thirty.
He stopped crawling and rolled onto his back while the stars were out now, barely visible through the city's light pollution, and his chest heaved with each breath being a monumental effort.
'So close, so fucking close.'
The timer ticked down to ten minutes, then nine.
He thought about Rynn and how his friend had always believed in him, even when he didn't believe in himself with his "You're gonna do something amazing someday, Vell, I can feel it."
Eight minutes.
He thought about his parents and how they'd looked at him during the trial, not with love or support but with shame, like he was a stranger who'd stolen their son's face.
Seven minutes.
He thought about Kana and whatever reason she'd had for lying, about the life she'd stolen from him.
Six minutes.
'No.'
He rolled onto his stomach while his arms were shaking so bad he could barely hold himself up, but he started crawling again, faster this time, ignoring the pain and the blood and everything except the timer and the distance.
[Distance: 79 km. Time Remaining: 0 hours, 4 minutes.]
One kilometer in four minutes was still impossible but he kept going.
His vision was going dark as his body shut down with systems failing one by one, but he didn't stop, couldn't stop when he was this close.
Three minutes.
His arms gave out and he tried to drag himself with just his fingers, clawing at the concrete.
Two minutes.
Everything hurt, his nerves screaming.
One minute.
[Distance: 79.8 km]
Two hundred meters might as well be two hundred miles.
Thirty seconds.
He wasn't moving anymore, couldn't move since his body was done, completely spent.
Ten seconds.
'I'm sorry, Rynn, I tried.'
Five seconds.
He closed his eyes and waited for the failure message.
Three seconds.
Two.
One.
[Distance: 80.00 km]
[Congratulations on completing the mission.]
[Reward will be granted upon user awakening.]
[Moving on to stage 2 of activation...]
He opened his eyes, not quite believing what he was seeing because somehow, in those last seconds, he'd moved those final few centimeters, maybe just the motion of his chest breathing or maybe his fingers twitching, but it didn't matter.
He'd done it.
A genuine smile spread across his bloody face as darkness closed in.
'Hahaha, I actually fucking made it.'
The world went black, but for the first time in a very long time, Vell felt like he'd won something.