This land is a vicious, unforgiving place. The weak are devoured by the monsters that roam this land. Birthed by the Mother of Monsters and given the memory of Humanity's betrayal, they seek to eliminate their past brethren. Goblins, who appear to be frail, create twisted machinations suffused with evil intent. Many fall to the false information constricted by the common folk. To the dragons whose magic and might have no mortal match. Their lairs filled with forgotten treasures from times long past. Many dare to challenge these creatures, but are quickly scorched by their feeble pride.

Then there are those who are named "Champions". They slay the beasts that threaten Humanity and unite the kingdoms for an age of prosperity that was never seen before. The weak cling onto them like moths to light and the powerful admire them. They gaze proudly from their stoic perch. Their power emitting a beacon of hope for the despaired. The boldest proclaim... "We are The Light!" they shout, "The Twilight fears us!"

They descend unto the forbidden dungeon, driven by the promises of glory and fortune, to lay the foul beasts in the corrupted void that dare threaten the people. They do not know of the cursed place that lies beneath their feet and the many that have fallen. What exists there are creatures that the Gods and the Mother came to fear. Insanity and eldritch power find gaps in the strongest of bodies, the sturdiest armour, and the most determined of minds. In the midst of their despair, they will realize the truth. They are nothing. They cry for a saviour, for peace, for the end of their suffering and their screams will echo soundlessly through the void.

A black shadow drapes over a figure like a second coat. The midnight clouds shift to let the ray of moonlight reveal an armored man stands on the edge of a cliff. His helmet's visor radiating a demonic glow looking towards the night sky painted with flecks of white.

Those who are smart learn from others mistakes, those who are strong will keep moving forward, and it is not the strongest nor the smartest who will survive, but those who can adapt rapidly. And is it I, xxJo_the_Slayer286xx, who will free the fallen from the clutching hands of darkness to their pea-

"Joe! Dinners ready!" Shouted a woman's voice.

In a dimly lit room sat a man with pale skin, slouched over in a chair in-front of a computer screen.

"I'll be back soon guys, I'm gonna go eat dinner." The man explained. The screen showed what appeared to be a MMO RPG game. Standing from his seat, he took off his headphones. Black shoulder-length hair hung from his head and he rubbed his tired eyes.

He headed down stairs and towards the kitchen. As he went down the stairs, the family cat Jimbo napped at his favorite spot. When he arrived he saw his parents and sister already sitting, waiting for him.

Erina, Joe's sister, played with her utensils with a bored look on her face. Her eyes drifted towards the arrival of her brother.

Couldn't you have gone any faster?" Erina smirked

He ignored her comment and sat in the chair. Spaghetti was placed on the table. With a quick thanks, they all began to eat their food and with the whole family present, a discussion would be inevitable.

"So Joe, how did the job interview go yesterday?" Joe's father questioned, with a curious look.

Joe turned pale upon hearing those words, a job interview? I completely forgot about that, Joe thought to himself.

"W-well, I think it went pretty good!" Joe answered with a smile

"What did they say?"

"Um, they said that they would call me back."

"What position did you apply for?"

"Chef"

"Um, I thought you were applying at the pet store..."

"Oh, yeah! I decided to change my mind about where to apply!"

Joe's father gave him one last look before shifting his attention back towards his plate of spaghetti.

Finishing his meal, he placed his dirty dishes in the dishwasher and went back upstairs to his room. He stormed through his door and sat down on his chair and arranged himself and his equipment. Headset, on. E-sport grade headphones sat on his head providing comfort and high quality sound. Knuckles, cracked. A loud pop resonated from his hands. Posters of women were plastered all around his room. Girlfriend, none. With the ritual complete he was fully in the gamer zone.

Once Joe put his headset back on, it was complete chaos. All his friends were screaming

"JOE!! We are being raided!!" A voice yelled

"Weasleburn is attacking!!!" A voice cried

"They killed you while you were away!!" A voice explained

"They did... what?!" Joe bellowed

Joe's guild, Eizelbern had been raided.

Joe immediately went to view the meeting room of the guild. Their meeting room proudly displayed beautiful greek architecture. White marble carpeted the area with walls adorned with the guilds symbol. Pillars supported the top of the room as if Atlas carried the world. On the ceiling stood extensive artwork depicting of a man reaching towards the gods monsters chased towards him. To make an atmosphere as if they were seated on the God's palace.

Instead, the white marble was stained by monster droppings and urination. Turning the pristine white floor into a yellowish-brown canvas. The effects of the mess resulted in multiple debuffs allocating in the area leaving something that resembled multiple monsters that had excreted their wastes.

He looked at the results of the invasion of the Weasleburn. Their assault had caused the destruction and humiliation of their guild. Joe's entire being was filled with rage, his very body felt like it was burning. His right eye flared in intensity leaving a red flash in the darkness.

He played the replay of his death. 30 minutes ago he stood there motionless, like a statue. A flash of yellow had glimmered and he fell on the floor. Dead. An assassin had blurred into view standing on his corpse and smirking. Abruptly, he had begun the steps to an infamous dance. Each motion was as graceful as wind, he flowed through each move like water, and ended with a confident stance.

"AFK while being raided? What a joke, you and your shitty clan sucks," the assassin whispered. He then disappeared back into the wind as if he wasn't even there.

This was it. Joe was over his breaking point. He lost all rational thought and only had his trained instincts forged by the hundreds of hours of playing. The Weaselburn clan had been infamous for raiding and harassing other guilds, but now they had attacked them at their weakest point while he was gone.

"These BASTARDS think they can make a mockery of ME and my GUILD?! I'll make them PAY!" Raged Joe, with this, he slammed a key on his keyboard.  In the game Eden, when one died they lost 10 levels and had to wait 30 minutes to respawn. Little did Weasleburn know, Joe held an ace up his sleeve that could bypass this restriction. Joe completed a hidden, painful quest line that gave him access to one of the most powerful spells in the game, resurrection.

Magical circuits surrounded his being. Arcs of lightning danced across his soul and glowed a pure white light. Power circulated and overcharged his soul. With a shout, he activated the spell that would surpass the grasp of death

A bright flash blinded the surrounding area. The light dissipated and what stood was a man that had risen from death. Perseverance of Heracles would give pure monstrous strength that could match the might of a Titan, but only for a limited time before your body would crumble. He looked down at his hands and clenched them, resulting in a shockwave that emitted from the clasp. He grinned to himself of the power that he obtained.

"With this power, I need not such devices such as swords or armor. I can take out entire armies alone. Thats what the power of the resurrection spell, Perseverance of Hercules, can do." Joe thought to himself

"Joe! We need help right now! We're being overwhelmed!" The sound of mechanical keys frantically being pressed could be heard.

"Yeah, i'm coming." Joe answered. With one step, he leaped into the sky towards the entrance where the fight was taking place. He was brimming with power and with each step covered great distances. Allowing him to arrive at the fight in seconds. His guild members were galizavently fighting, but slowly losing ground due to the superior numbers of the Weaselburn clan.

With the force of an asteroid, Joe landed in the middle of the battlefield. Dust had dissipated and what stood there was an armoured man with a dark shadow looming over him. Nearly every eye was turned to him, but for a few straggling fighters.  His presence radiated a presence of pure strength and death.

"So, these are the fools who have attacked our guild." He glances toward the enemy forces. "I am the man who has awoken from death. I have stolen the principle of domination from the Gods. I have pursued my dream of being the strongest and I laugh at you fools who think they can defeat me. I will have my revenge and none of you will be able to st-"

Pain. A silver flash had struck Jo's back. A blade had impaled his chest and crimson blood spewed out of his mouth like a fountain.

"Thanks for keeping your guard down while you rambled like an idiot, makes for easy pickings. Do you really think we're just going to listen to you and do nothing?" The attacker mocked, it was the same man who killed Joe in the first place.

Joe was aghast. He had invested into several skills detecting all types of enemy movement to prevent his monologues from being stopped. Regardless of that, this player had snuck up behind him. His lifebar dripped down until it was sitting at quarter of its maximum. Joe's guild-mates were in a panic. 

Injured but not defeated, Joe wasn't ready to just give up yet. He quickly formulated a plan and looked at his surroundings. The attacker came forward with an overhead strike aiming to end him. He rolled forward to avoid the sword aiming towards his chest. Dirt scattered where he had laid before springing back up to his feet. The attacker chased forward and lunged. With the sword nearing his face, Joe backhanded the flat side of the sword. The blade soared from the attacker's grip and his balance unstable. Taking advantage of this, Joe delivered a round kick towards the opponents neck. The kick had lashed into his neck and a shockwave was created. The opponent's head skyrocketed and the body slowly went on its knees before it fell.

"Impressive." Joe looked to the remaining Weasulburn members. "You may have been able to greatly damage me, but you have yet to see my tru-" A cat jumped onto his keyboard scratching Joe's hands, pressing random keys leading to his screen to return to its desktop. His in-game avatar mid-frozen of his sentence. "Jimbo, what the hell are you doing!!?!" Jo shooed Jimbo off and quickly tried to return to the game. But it was too late, he had been slain. And with no more tricks up his sleeves, it was over.

The whole Weasleburn clans were dancing with joy on the remains of his character and  guildmates. They admired the new loot they had gotten, laughed, and threw out insults to the corpses. Another guild defeated to their endless conquest of carnage.

"What the hell were you doing, Joe?! You cost us the whole base by standing there like a damn idiot!" A guild-mate shouted

"It wasn't my fault! My cat made my game's window minimize!" Joe explained

"Your cat? Yeah right. Stop making dumb excuses about your inability to play this game properly. Every fucking time we play with you we have to carry your ass when we could have a player that could actually contribute to our team. Along with your dumb monologuing like you're some sort of genius badass. You just make yourself look a mumbling fool. You cost us our whole guild and thousands of hours just went down the drain."

"Please! I'm being serious!"

"Joe, I think I know what type of person you are in real life. A. Fucking. Loser. Get the fuck out of my sight."

Silence had filled the call. Every member had gone silent as one word could escalate this even further. Joe was in half-disbelief by the person he called a friend that he spent countless of hours playing with. Through the multiple hours of farming rare materials to raiding against the highest level of bosses, discussing new animes, he thought they were truly friends. He could not mutter a single word. In seconds that seemed to stretch forever, he had silently left the call.

He sat there blank as he could not comprehend what just happened. After he gained his bearings, he had decided to delete his account, the game. He turned off his computer and headed towards his bed. Joe laid on his bed staring at the ceiling. He drifted off and before he knew it a dreamless sleep had taken him.