Level And Life | KTH ✓

2. The Game

I was wandering through the streets while admiring the view. It was a beautiful and calm evening. The evening sun cast long shadows on the ground. The slanting rays of the setting sun gave a warm orange tinge to the sky.  

I thought it would be good to spend some more time because no one was at home as Dad had messaged me- 

"We are going out for some important work, your Mom had prepared the dinner, don't skip and eat properly on time. We'll be back till night."

As I passed by the bridge, my eyes landed on an old, abandoned building. It stood in a composed way, as if it had chosen solitude for itself. It seemed like it had a soul, one that was stoic and sober, as if patience was easy for its grand pillars of rock.

I knew it could not be the wisest decision to visit to such a place. It showed signs of being...wary. But 'curiosity' is the one crucial thing that I always failed miserably to hold within. So I willed to take the risk.

The evening was graceful and I had a sudden urge to catch a glimpse of the view that would be awesome from its terrace. 

Without a second thought, I dragged my steps towards the entrance door. 

From there, the whole structure appeared to be monstrously massive. There was pitch-dark. The only source of light was the setting sun. It seemed empty as no one could be seen in my sight. I grabbed the staircase rail with my free hand and moved up gingerly, and for the most part in silence.

It was an eleven floored building that's why it took a while to reach up there. There was a room on the way to the very top. It was bleak, cold, and wasn't illuminated at all. I could barely spot anything. It was quiet and somber in there. It was a room as a canvas rather than a finished work of art, and to me, it was all the more exciting and spine-chilling.

As soon as I stepped into the room, I collided onto an object that seemed vaguely like a box or that's what I assumed.

A grin unconsciously crept up to my lips when it really found out to be a big cardboard box. 

As stood up, brushing the dust off my pants, immediately a magical streak of light came out of nowhere and projected on the box, making it bear a peculiar shine.

I was aware that to open any such random thing wasn't right, it felt...strange. But there was something about it that drew me towards itself, as if it was calling out for me, again tackling my weak point, the curiosity.

"What if I find something interesting inside? What if there's a treasure or something like that?"

Without flooding my mind with such questions anymore, I unboxed it. 

The first thing that came into the view as I removed the lid was a dull deep-red piece of cloth wrapping something inside it. There was a small golden box that glowed even in the murky light. Right on the middle of it, there was something written in ancient, black bold letters,

"ZENDAR"

Inside it there was a manual and the piece of hardware. It didn't need some genius to figure out that it was a computer game. My eyes brightened up with excitement.

 "Woah!, this seems interesting." 

I was checking out the manual when a Security Guard popped out of nowhere, holding a torch in his hand which he instantly cast at me, catching me off-guard. I panickly hid the box in the inner pocket of my jacket.

"What the hell are you doing here? Don't you know it's a restricted area?!" He yelled, venom laced with his voice as he furrowed his brows.

"N-Nothing. Sorry, I wasn't aware of that." I replied spontaneously.

"Now leave this place as soon as possible unless you do not want to get yourself in trouble."

"Um... yes," I managed to escape there somehow.

I reached home and unlocked the door with the spare key that I always had with me since Mom and Dad used to go out very often.

The lights of the hallway were off. I straight went upstairs to my room. After switching the lights on and slamming my bag on the bed, I moved to the computer table right away. Disclosing that golden box, I found reading the manual boring and useless so I threw it on the table and directly jumped into playing the game.

I turned on my computer and set up the hardware in the CPU. After putting it in, an icon appeared on the desktop that read the same name as scribbled on the box. As I double clicked it, a console window appeared in which 'ZENDAR' was written on the top in big bold letters. The background was so catchy and interesting that I'd never seen before.

As a response to the graphics on the screen, my mind forgot all around and just got lost in the game. 

A set of rules appeared one by one. There were seven of them that stated:

➢ Use standard output and do not alter the window.

➢ A single player cannot play, multiple players are needed.

➢ Once you start playing, you must complete all the levels.

➢ You will have a total of five lives.

➢ If you score more points then you can be awarded with an extra life.

➢ Read the instruction manual carefully.

➢ Play at your own risk.

It would be an understatement if I convinced myself that the last one did not get on my nerves for a second. But—

"Daredevils names for games, right?" I confidently spoke to myself as my lips formed into a smirk.

As I scrolled down the mouse, there was an agreement that read— 

I agree with all the terms and policies. 

A check box is made on the side of it. As soon as I checked on it, "WELCOME TO ZENDAR!" flashed on the computer screen which caused my eyes to bliss out in thrill.

Suddenly an alarm rang, drawing out my attention from the computer screen. I facepalmed myself when I remembered that I had set it up for my studies. Even if I didn't want to, I had to exit my precious game and shut down the computer. 

Since it was a multiplayer game so I thought it would be fun to play it with the other boys and Moon who, thanks to my non-stop blabbering about the games, also found her interest within the same at last.

"I will tell them about it tomorrow in college. I'm sure they will like the idea and get excited."

After finishing all my work, securing myself under the sheets, I slid into my deep slumber.

Author's Note:

Hey guys!!! I hope you all are doing fine. How was the chapter? tell me by your votes and comments. It keeps my motivation up. Thank you for giving your precious time in reading it.

Have a lovely day/night!!! Take care and stay safe~

I purple you all 💜💜💜