Summer 2006:

I remember, cool breeze which cut through the humid smoggy air, the rush of cars going about their business below the high rise buildings, the incessant beep of the whirring game console as its fans spun harder than ever to run the tiny 8 bit game. 

My sister looked down at me sitting on the floor directly in front of the television. Giving me a toothy grin, 

“Whaat~ You can’t beat this level yet?”

“N-No! I-its just, I just—“ 

The pixelated characters danced on the screen as the orc lord menacingly swung his club as if to remind me of my impending doom. 

“Aha! You can’t get past his finisher move?” 

She clapped her hands together and proclaimed loudly. I grimaced as if to disapprove. 

“N-no… How did you—“

“Shush. I’m your older sister, I know everything~” 

She tutted in a condescending tone, shaking her head. I swear I could see her nose wiggle under the bangs of her bowl cut. 

We were sitting in between the oppression of the summer humidity and the grace of the living room fan. Playing on the television was one of our favourite games, “Lizard quest 2”. The game whined with its chiptune tones and its pixels skipped along with it. 

“Here,” she snatched the controller out of my hands and plopped herself down next to me. “You keep dying because you’re not stunning him before he uses his move.” She pointed to the wobbling text flickering on the television. “See, even the game tells you that he’s powering up,” turning to me, she stood up and mimicked my grandmother. In her best falsetto (well at least what her 11 year old self could offer) “You can’t just brute force through everything Tianjun, sometimes you have to be graceful about it. You are a girl! Not a gorilla!” I groaned and fell back onto the empty marbled floor behind me.

“Big sis~ You’re being annoying again~” I complained, rolling my eyes towards the ceiling.

“Hehe~,” she giggled, “That’s what big sisters are for.”

I stuck out my lips and made a mocking impression of 'That’s what big sisters are for' and stuck out my tongue at her. An invitation for us to begin tackling each other until we’re forced to stop by our grandmother. I was happy. Even if we lost our parents, even if our grandmother died, even if we were forced to live on our own, I would be happy. As long as I have my games and my big sister with me. 

Winter 2020: 

I held in a shaky breath as white mist surrounded me, I remebered this scene all too well. Military vehicles roared left and right along the streets as if none of them cared about our predicament. A man dressed in shining silver amour leaped from the nearby truck, his knee pads clicking against his high boots. 

“HEY EVERYONE! We need to check your player cards, please hold them out for us to see” the man yelled waving his arms in the air. 

“Oi~, you there, show me your player card.” A man who had a giant halberd slung around his shoulders with a lazy grin trodded over to me. “Hey. How old are you?” he said in a haughty tone.

“Uh, I-I’m turning 21…” I replied quietly. 

“Young enough,” the man hummed to himself “Now. Show me your player card.” 

With a tap to the back of my right hand, a card manifested itself in my closed grip. I held it up to the man. 

“Hm~, A summoner class huh?” The man groped his chin thoughtfully “You’re level 4 and what skills do you have?” 

“Ahaha—, I just picked all the basic skills in the skill tree.”

“Heh~, what a newbie move~” He glanced at the pixelated avatar on the card and back to my face. 

“Any weapons?”

“Nope! Just the basic dagger!” I raised my left arm now and gave him a goofy grin as if to prove I was really just a newbie at all of this, that was the only way that they'd take me with them.

The man looked me up and down, glancing at my card again, and then back to me. 

“Okay~,” He sighed. “You’re coming with us to the raid.”

“Wha—, Now?”

“Yeah. Now. Get on the truck. We’ll be leaving in five.”

I gave the man my best looking frown, trying to show my disappointment (bluffing).

I was met with a fierce stare and I slinked my way over to the truck. 

The truck engine increases to a roar and the vehicle violently lurches forward with some of its inhabitants jostled around in its trunk, some looked excited, happy to experience their first dungeon while others looked gloomy as if they were being sent to their deaths. I was in the latter half. 

“Pst—“

“Hm?” 

An oddly energetic middle aged man who was seated beside me gave my shoulder a gentle tap. He smiled with his teeth and held his hand out to me. 

“Nice to meet you! I’m Daiyan, a level 10 cleric!” 

I paused for a moment. Someone was clearly too giddy to be entering a dungeon. And vaguely smelt of alcohol. Should a cleric really be drinking alchemy like this? I stumbled around, glancing at the passing scenery, usually I would ignore such a drunk but something compelled me to respond. 

“I- I’m Tianjun, level 4 summoner. Er… Nice to meet you?” 

“Hehe! It’s my pleasure!” He beamed as I reached out for his outstretched hand and pulled it into his firm grasp. 

His woolly hand warmed the fingertips exposed from my fingerless gloves. I glanced at his face, the signs of aging beginning to cut into his soft cheeks, I wondered if I met him before? His face certainly seems oddly familiar. Maybe it was a previous time. 

“What is a young girl like you doing in a guild like this? They aren’t the kindest of people you know?” 

“Well… What any other person would? I was trying to find my sister and I needed a safe place to stay?” 

“Ahaa, I see. How silly of me!” He laughed heartily as I twisted my hand out of his clammy grip.

“But surely someone like you could find a much better guild than this? The princess that ruled this dungeon wasn’t particularly strong and the dungeon itself is quite weak and small. If there was a nearby dungeon that broke out, we’d all be dead, y’know?” He glanced at me with pitiful eyes. 

Uh, Uncle, you’re in the exact same position as me, what are you pitying me for? I wanted to quip back but held my tongue. 

“Well, no one was willing to accept me, summoners aren’t particularly strong without summons…”

He sighs, “So it was like that huh? What a shame!” He held his hand up to his forehead, slapping with a meaty whack. He then chuckled. 

“Hey! How about this, I’ll give you a little something!” The uncle fished around his breast pocket, pulling out lint trapped there for who knows how long.

“Ermmm, Hm, I thought I had it here…,” He patted himself down, “Or was it in this pocket…?”

“Aha! Here!”

He produced a silver totem hanging loosely from a black thread, clearly meant to be a necklace. He shoved it into my hands without much of a thought and whipped out a silver flask as I flipped the item around in my hands. 

“!!” This was no ordinary item! He gave me a full blown epic item! And it was a totem of resurrection! My eyes flew through the description listed on the item, ‘after the wearer is reduced down to 0 hp, the totem is sacrificed to bring the wearer back to 1 hp” Shit. This item is good, but 1hp huh? Even so it could mean the difference between dying and seeing the sun again the next day. 

“W-where did you get this…?” I mumbled out.

“Oh! You know how we had that pachinko thingy when this whole event happened? Yeah, that was the item I got from that! I’m pretty reliable for my luck!”, the uncle guffaws. I could only stare at the uncle with a gaping mouth. 

He managed to pull an epic item on that notorious beginner item draw?! Most people got normal items, and while it went from normal rank to mystical rank, only 4 or 5 people in the whole world managed to get that! The drop rates for that stupid gacha was insane! (mystical rank items have a 0.00001% chance of appearing I believe)

“Oh man, I remember that like it was yesterday you know? The rumbling of the ground, the screens that flicked up in front of you, gosh! What a blast from the past huh?! I guess playing all those games as a teenager, despite my mother’s warnings ended helping me huh?” 

“Y-you really sure you should give me something like this?! Uhm, your family or something… You’ll be able to live longer with this, you know?!”

The uncle’s eyes glazed over. 

“Oh… My family huh? That’s okay, they’ll be fine~”

“U-uncle, what about …not about your family but you! Don’t you want to see them again?” The uncle grinned and took another swig of the strong smelling liquid. 

“Nah, I think I’ll see them quicker without the totem.” 

“...” Yeesh. This uncle is more depressing than he seems huh. Now the alcohol makes sense. It’s a painful reminder that people were mere ants compared to the monsters roaming this world. 

“Take it kiddo! You’re more important to the world than an aging man, hm? And you need to see your sister correct?”

“But you…” Argh… This man is getting increasingly difficult to argue with. And I don’t want to make too much of a ruckus… The guards would probably “confiscate” this item if they heard about it.

“O-okay…” I breathed, “But I’m paying you back!”

The uncle smiled gently and flicked his eyes to the falling snowflakes as we approached the looming dungeon. 

“Looking forward to it, kid…” 

He then proceeded to blab my ear off for the rest of the ride.