Teen Ink

Prologue

Everyone told me I was born to be a gamer, but I never thought I would die one too. No game I have ever played has even remotely challenged me until now. I easily defeated my opponents one by one, but not this time. He was too strong, too experienced. I knew the second that I stepped into the abandoned coliseum.

I watched helplessly as he disabled every single one of my weapons, some I didn’t even know were there. He drained my shield as if I were on level one instead of sixty-seven. Why didn’t he just finish me off? What was the point of disabling all of my weapons before killing me?

The blade flew through the air, and stopped right before my helmet. Suddenly, a suit appeared holding the sword. “Dude, camouflage? That is cheating.” The figure turned its head, scanning the arena to make sure there were no other players.

“Where is the creator?”

“Dude, I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m just a hacker.”

“Well to get this far you must have been trained.” His blade withdrew into his arm, and transformed into a heat cannon.  “I’ll settle for the location of Player Zero.”

“I told you, I don’t know anything.”

“Then you are of no more use to me.”

I screamed, and faded into darkness. I lay on the floor of the empty arena, only my suit keeping me alive for a few last seconds. I watched as the golden swordsman exited the arena. He looked over his shoulder, and said a gamer’s worst nightmare.

“Game Over.”