“Okay, who’s ready to kick Malenia’s ass?” I asked with excitement as I cracked my knuckles before picking up my PS5 controller from my desk. It was the weekend, and we had a lot of free time to play Elden Ring while using Discord to talk to each other.

“I am. Let’s do this... Hey Clyde, don’t screw this up, will ya?” Peter teased as he cast the Golden Vow incantation in the game. He was kind of funny, as he would try his best to make us laugh with his dumb puns and jokes.

“Hey, shut up, man. You two were supposed to have her aggro on you,” Clyde argued as he drank his Wondrous Physick. He was the nerd of the crew.

“Okay, lads, calm down. It’s just a game... Listen, when we enter the arena, Peter, you go and attack Malenia from her left, and I’ll go from the right,” I explained as I drank my Wondrous Physick as well. “And Clyde, you try to stay back and use your spells to hit her from a distance. If she gets close, switch to Moonveil. Got it?” I asked, finishing my explanation.

“You got it, Blake,” Peter answered.

“Is this the same plan as last time, Blake?” Clyde sighed, annoyed at my plan.

I rolled my eyes as I just wanted to go ahead and kill that sickly hag already. “Let’s go,” I said as we all entered the golden foggy door.

The moment we entered the arena, we saw Malenia slowly walking towards us. Peter attacked from the left, and I attacked from the right, just as we had planned. Clyde stayed behind and shot his magic spells at Malenia, but she effortlessly dodged every shot. Peter leaped and slammed his Giant Crusher down on her, while I attacked her with my Bloodhound’s Fang, utilizing its deadly Ash of War to strike her. Since all of us were using weapons capable of breaking enemy stances easily, Malenia staggered, and Peter landed a critical hit. She was now at half health, but unfortunately, luck was not on our side.

“Holy shit, WATCH OUT!” I shouted as I saw Malenia preparing to unleash her deadly move, the Waterfowl Dance. Peter wasn’t quick enough, and he took every hit, with each blow causing Malenia’s health to regenerate. Now, she was back to full health.

“Dammit!” Peter roared in anger as his character perished.

“Now, who’s the one that screwed up?” Clyde said, teasingly, as he joined the fight with his Moonveil, rapidly utilizing the Transient Moonlight Ash of War. However, Malenia grabbed his character by the arm and tossed him into the air, impaling him with her katana, killing him as well.

“Both of you,” I said, frustration evident in my voice as I cast the Bloodflame Blade incantation on my Bloodhound Claws. But something happened that always angered me.

My monitor started lagging, and it went blank, displaying a pure white screen in front of me. My left eye twitched, and I stood up from my gaming chair, kicking it hard, pushing it backward. “FUUUUUUUUCK!” I yelled at the top of my lungs. We had been playing this game yesterday, and we would always fail at killing Malenia over and over for stupid reasons. Clyde’s Xbox controller battery would die, Peter’s apartment’s power would turn off, my mom would call me to ask where I was, or the most common way was getting killed by Malenia herself during the fight. Our builds were perfect, and our levels were very high, but we were playing in my world, and I was at New Game+5 for fuck’s sake.

I closed my eyes and took some deep breaths to calm myself down, which was a hard task for Soulsborne players like myself.

Suddenly, I heard something from the monitor. Turning around, I saw my monitor glowing, but... It was strange. It was glowing in an odd way. I leaned down and examined it closely, noticing a blue aura around the screen. My eyes widened at the sight, but I didn’t have a chance to do anything as I felt an invisible force holding my head. I grunted, trying to free myself, panic setting in. “H-HELP!” I shouted, but no one could hear my plea.

Finally, I gave in as my body grew tired. Then the impossible became possible. The invisible force from the screen pulled me in, and I was swallowed inside it... And everything went black.

Author's Note

Well, this was the prologue, and I want to emphasize that this is my first story. Please bear with me and understand that English is not my native language.

Character information will be provided in the next chapter.

Thank you for reading, everyone. Get ready for the next chapter!