A lone figure was running in a dark tunnel, eyes fixed ahead of him as he tried to escape a dark purplish corrosive gas that didn't spare anything, not even the walls.
RAARGH!
GRRR!
Two huge horrendous monsters stood before him, one made up entirely of just bones while the other was made of decaying flesh.
Noticing his presence they attacked him, forcing him to defend himself with a wooden club which magically appeared in his hands.
*BOOM*
The humanoid skeleton shot forward, bones rattling with every step it took.
Swinging the thin bone sword in its hand with the finesse of a veteran, it left many cuts on the intruder who failed to block all its attacks.
*CHOMP*
The fleshy zombie undead who had been standing still all this while suddenly appeared behind him with a burst of dark energy, biting into his neck, releasing a pulse of nefarious energy and tearing a chunk out.
Having completed their job they stood to the side where a horde of smaller non-humanoid undead were gathered, watching as the intruder thrashed about, the potent toxin rewriting his DNA and transforming him into an undead, just like them.
As the light faded from his eyes he saw a new figure in front of him, muttering something that he barely managed to catch.
"You failed to stand among the strong. Now you must suffer the consequences."
******
"Hah hah, what the f*ck. It was just a dream. But- but it felt so real. That bite felt so real."
Calming his racing heart down, Mateo stood up and walked to his full body mirror, mainly to assure himself that his neck was still intact.
"Huh. When did I get a tattoo and why the hell is it so itchy."
Looking in the mirror he saw three small rectangles on the right side of his neck, the same spot he had been scratching.
Two were lit up in a faint lime green while the last one was faded out, resembling the health bars of an unfair boss level game character.
Stepping out of his suit which he had slept in, Mateo replayed the events of the day.
"So I was playing on my phone, then I got zapped into a weird tunnel where I faced off against zombies. Then I died, got bullied and returned back to the same time I left."
"Oh yeah I also met a cute girl and her snobby friend and we hit it off, so yeah that about sums up my dawn."
Listening to himself recount the hazy events of his dawn, Mateo came to a painful conclusion.
"I need to stop drinking if my alcohol tolerance is this low."
Feeling the cold water running down his body gave Mateo the peace of mind to plan his day, which was basically to stay in the room all day, binge watching his favourite anime and only step out when his snacks were finished.
Stepping out of the shower, water droplets clinging to a body sculptured well enough to start a cult of fangirls, Mateo made his way to the bed and dried himself.
Now dressed in a black tank top and white boxers, Mateo stepped in front of the mirror, taking a moment, to admire himself and fuel his narcissistic side for a bit.
His eyes drawn to the sick tattoo he had and all of a sudden he felt like he was forgetting something, something that refused to be remembered no matter how hard he tried.
"Eh, it is useless to worry about it. If I'm supposed to, I will remember", he muttered.
The Air Conditioning at the coolest setting and the thick curtains doing their job, Mateo was at the peak of his comfort, bag of chips in hand and smart TV showing the anime he downloaded.
A few minutes into the anime about a group of seven sinful heroes, his phone pinged but he decided to ignore it.
A ping rang out again, and once more before the nagging feeling overcame his desire to finish the series.
At the end of his long stream of notifications from channels he followed were two messages.
[Mom] - *Young man you have some explaining to do*.
[Unknown number] - *You up yet, Mr. Mafia*.
Reading the first message, he was thrust through a timeloop of all his sins and the things he did wrong, such as not taking out the trash, missing a family meal, etc.
Honestly the list went on and on, but with no specific sin to prepare an excuse for he just decided to wing his meeting with his mom.
The second message however is what left him stunned.
"Mr. Mafia", he muttered with a dazed expression.
'But…it's only Amber who calls me that.'
"I thought I was just imagining things or at least having one of those lucid dreams again but–. This means … shit, it might all be real. Everything that happened, the zombies, E.C, the code market-"
The incomprehensible stream of words Mateo was spewing out was cut short at the mention of a phrase.
The CODE MARKET
An astra-physical plane with it's origins unknown was obviously not your regular marketplace.
With the only condition for the most basic level of access being the death of an undead, courtesy of the one trying to use it's services, it easily became the universe's biggest marketplace, something Mateo was soon to discover.
Seeing a faint colourless projection in his mind's eye, Mateo was left speechless.
No one knew how long he had dreamed of this day, not even he knew.
All it took was two well written novels to forever entrap him in the world of fantasy.
He had done everything he thought possible in order for a chance to brush against the threads of the supernatural.
Exercise till his body gave out, have near death experiences by joining a gang, meditating in the lotus position, enter a forest at full moon, and so much more.
Heck, if his parents knew even half the things he'd done, they'd probably send him to a mental facility.
But he risked it all just for this, the chance to wield power beyond human understanding.
Why?
Because he was bored.
Born into an extremely wealthy family he could get almost anything he wanted.
Cars? He was already driving hypercars as at 15.
Girls? His bestfriend, Leone's body count was proof of how easy it was to get laid once you had money.
Sightseeing? Food tasting? Exotic pet collecting?
All too boring. He eventually realised that he was an adrenaline junkie.
He needed something that made his heart race and his blood boil.
He was also against the idea of drugs and alcohol as sources of happiness.
He saw them as cheap knockoffs of the original.
Lucky for him he managed to join a gang, one of many in an illegal underground fight club.
The fights were held weekly and he made sure to attend only when he knew he would be away from home for a long period, like when he went to college.
He may be an adrenaline junkie but he wasn't dumb.
The fights managed to satiate his needs a bit, but now that he was introduced to something much grander, the CODE MARKET , he got the assurance he needed.
The supernatural, non human races, magic, elixirs, all of it was real.
The proof was floating right before his mind's eye.
A certain tab labeled – Potions.