Chương 1: Summoning

Alexandra's alarm went off at 5: 58 a. m. Two minutes before reset. Her eyes snapped open. A dull ache pulsed behind her eyes, but her body was already moving. Chair, mouse, monitor, login screen. Lone World Online's familiar music hit her ears before the welcome animation played. Space bar, skip, no time to waste. She knew the sequence so well that she dreamt of it sometimes. Her character, a max level Warlock, was already in Winterdale.

Once, players crawled around the place, so many that clicking the right NPC could be difficult. Not anymore. It had been years since Alexandra had seen more than five people logged in at the same time. Back then, everyone played Lone World Online. This ritual had outlasted them all. Daily quests. Never missed a single one. A 3841 day streak.

"Alright," she muttered, sipping last night's flat energy drink.

"Let's see what we got today." The clock ticked. Another alarm rang. 6: 00 a. m. Not wasting a beat, she pressed the hotkey to open her quest journal. Three new dailies. Slay 10 Greater Fiends. Gather 5 Fire Lotus Blooms. Clear The Infernal Depths. Her lips twitched. The first two were easy enough. She didn't leave her character in Winterdale for no reason. It was the hub for lategame content. The easiest place from which to reach her quests. 10 Greater Fiends?

It would take her 10 minutes riding her pet dragon to the Abyssal Fissure. 5 Fire Lotus Bloom would have been a bit more annoying to a newer player, but after ten years, she knew their spawn location like the back of her hand. The Infernal Depths, though… It was a raid. How was she supposed to clear a raid alone? The answer was simple: she couldn't. Worse, finding people to help her was always near impossible. She'd stayed up until 3 a. m. last night to find a single player to clear a nasty pvp daily quest.

Raids needed 8, at minimum. Alexandra wiped an eye booger away and exhaled.

"All good. I'll just reroll it." One reroll a day. That was all players of Lone World Online were given by the developers. [Are you sure you want to reroll: Clear The Infernal Depth? Yes/No] Alexandra moved her mouse as carefully as she could, placing the pointer over the yes button. She double checked, triple checked, made sure her internet connection was stable. Then, she pressed the button. The animation played, a spinning hourglass telling her that the server was processing her request.

The seconds stretched as the old game's infrastructure churned. She didn't blink until the new quest appeared. Defeat the Giant of Rolling Ice Her hands started shaking. She closed her quest journal, only to open it again. She hadn't misread.

"Fuck." She grabbed her hair, still messy from the night. In a moment of panic, she almost stood up from her chair.

"Why? The odds…" No, she had to stay focused. She leaned forward on her desk, her eyes locked onto her screen. Her fingers were already moving, opening menus while directing her characters to the gates of the city. Now, defeating the Giant of Rolling Ice was easier than clearing the Infernal Depths. She only needed three teammates instead of seven. The thing was: there weren't three other players on the server. She was the last person to play the game regularly.

All the others, including the few that helped her clear her quests from time to time only came back for the sake of nostalgia. Still, Alexandra wasn't going to let it ruin her streak. She'd always known that something like that could happen. Hell, it had happened in the past, and more than once. Every time, she'd come out of it victorious, and today would be no different. She checked the time: 6: 04 a. m.

"I'm working the night shift today… Shit!" Finding other players was always easier in the evening, and this time, she couldn't afford to pick just anyone. The Rolling Ice Giant wasn't an easy boss to slay. She needed experienced players.

"Alright, first, let's clear the other two quests." Fifteen minutes later, Alexandra's character stood in the Elysian Fields of Hell, a dimension added in the final expansion for the game. That was the area where Fire Lotus Blooms were found. [Daily Quest: Slay 10 Greater Fiends: Completed -> +10 Mythical Crystals] If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. [Daily Quest: Gather 5 Fire Lotus Bloom: Completed -> + 10 Mythical Crystals] She didn't even need the rewards.

She had farmed all there was to farm, bought all the premium items, crafted everything. Right as Alexandra was about to teleport back to Winterdale, a pop-up blinked on her screen. The add-on she'd developed for herself was like a shining beacon in the night. It was a simple logger that kept track of whoever was online. [User Logged In: KingMalt] She wasn't done typing her message when her screen flashed again. [User Logged Out: KingMalt]"Fuck…" Alexandra returned to Winterdale and waited.

She was starting to get hungry. But what if someone logged in while she wasn't looking? She couldn't take the risk. 8: 25 a. m. Alexandra grabbed her phone and started texting. She hadn't kept up with her old friends from the guild, but maybe they could help her. Nobody answered. Lila, Hakim, Arthur, Jenna, Jade, Aaron. No luck. Even Raymond didn't answer. Not like any of them ever did. Alexandra hadn't heard from them in ten years. 10: 58 a. m. She had to leave at 4 p. m.

if she wanted to make it to her shift at the pizzeria. Alexandra started calling her exes. Jason didn't pick up. She tried Nathan. It rang.

"What's up, Alex?" Nathan's voice crackled through the speaker.

"I'm driving now."

"Nath, I need your help. Can you log in real quick?"

"Alex… I'm working now. I don't have time to play."

"It won't take long," Alexandra pleaded.

"Please, I need to complete my daily."

"Man, you really gotta stop with that. Get a grip."

"I know, I know," Alexandra answered.

"But please."

"Look, Alex, I really don't have time. I don't even own a pc anymore. I'm sorry. Take care." Nathan hung up. Alexandra swore.

"Bastard. God forbid I have one thing that makes me happy." At 2: 54 p. m., someone logged in. [User Logged In: Sssup] Alexandra was startled awake by the notification. She nearly fell from her chair; only adrenaline got her hands to the keyboard in time. Enter key, whisper, "help me complete my quest please", send.

"C'mon, buddy, don't ghost me now. You're my only shot," Alexandra let out from between her teeth. No answer. Another whisper. Still no answer. Alexandra typed a command into her add-on. Sssup was in Baleria.

"Shit…" Baleria was about as far as you could get from Winterdale. None of her teleportation stones were attuned to this area. She entered another command. Max level. Sssup was a max level Paladin. If there was a class that could solo carry a boss fight, it was this one, especially when paired with her demonic summons and curses. She needed to catch him. Ever ready to act, Alexandra was already riding her pet dragon. She flew over the ocean, jungle, and desert, praying that Sssup wouldn't disconnect.

Twenty minutes later, she landed in the Baleria region. Baleria was the kind of area that never saw a lot of player activity. One would pass through there on their journey to the maximum level, but there wasn't much to do but grind experience. No end-game content, few unique monsters, no crafting materials worth the detour. But, today, it was different. Today, there was Sssup. A knight in shining armor standing on the edge of a cliff, between the tumultuous sea and the vast flowery plains of Baleria.

On her way to him, Alexandra had never stopped trying to reach out. He never answered her whispers. Now that she was next to him, she tried a regular message. Nothing. She jumped in front of him. Nothing. A group invitation. Still nothing. She was in the middle of typing another message when Sssup's avatar disappeared. [User Logged Out: Sssup] Alexandra leaned back on her chair, defeated.

"I'm not going to make it, am I?" She checked the time: 3: 21 p. m. She had to get ready for work. She couldn't just go without at least taking a shower. For a brief moment, she considered not going. But with bills to pay… And she was already late on rent. Pushing herself off the wobbly armrests of her chair, she stood up. The afternoon light shone through the blinds of her small apartment. Bundles of clothes littered the floor, and the smell of cigarettes was seeping through the front door. Her sink was leaking.

Water drops fell one by one into a bucket. Her mouth was dry.

"Fuck it." She sat back down and opened her web browser. Keyboard, loneworldonline, enter, contact, open a ticket. Ten years of streak, this had to be convincing. At least give her some grace, allow her a miss. A single one. Alexandra wrote her message, and pressed send. She leaned back on her chair, breathless. Her head was light, almost spinning. She reached for her mouse, and opened her mail box.

"It's so over." The world stuttered. A flash of light brighter than anything she'd seen before filled her screen. Then it filled the room. Then the world. And she was blind. When she saw again, she wasn't in her apartment anymore. Her computer, her desk, her bed, the cracked blinds, the crushed cans, the empty ramen cups on the floor. All gone. She stood up, and her chair vanished. Alexandra stood in an empty void. Alone. She'd always imagined the void to be filled with darkness, but it wasn't the case here.

It was white. She stood on a ground that wasn't one. There was no sound, no temperature, even the air she breathed was neutral. Her mouth opened on its own. She closed it. An old voice boomed across the emptiness. It was neither male nor female, yet she'd never heard a more beautiful sound. It rippled through her ears, her head, then her bones and skin like it was more than just words.

"Alexandra Ward. The Divinities of Laika have seen your dedication. You are being summoned as a Heroine to put an end to the immemorial conflict between gods and demons." Startled, she looked left and right, then up and down, trying to locate the source of the voice. She didn't find it.

"What the…" she whispered, clenching her fists.

"What about my streak?" A pause. A silence.

"3841 days. As a reward, you are granted the divine class: Heroine of Quests. May your streak reach new heights on Laika." Before Alexandra could ask what the voice meant, she was whisked away from the void. She rubbed her eyes in disbelief when she understood where she was. Between the tumultuous sea and the flowery plains of Baleria, Alexandra stood atop a cliff, a thick, shining, leather-bound journal in her right hand.