Ethan was just your average broke and lonely college student: working hard to pass his classes, barely getting any sleep, and working a part-time job to pay for tuition.
It was a stressful time for Ethan. He was always doing mountains of college work, working a shitty job, didn't have any friends to hang out with or vent to about his problems, shared a small dorm with a snobbish asshole, and didn't even have any family to visit during breaks. The only relatives he knew of were an uncle and a few cousins but none of them seemed to really care about him.
Ethan had no parents to speak of either. His mother was put in prison a few years back while his father ran off with some young woman he met, never to be seen again.
There currently wasn't much in life that put Ethan in a good mood. He had no friends, no family, no hope of getting a girlfriend, hell he couldn't even talk to any of his professors due to them not acknowledging his existence.
Two years of college life slowly passed by. Nothing had changed for Ethan. He often even thought about dropping out but decided not to in hopes of using his future busniness degree to find a high paying job and live a steady life without having to worry about money too much.
The only thing that made him truly happy was one thing: gaming! He enjoyed all sorts of games, but his absolute favorite was a mobile game called "The Battle Cats."
It was a mobile tower defense game that he discovered at the age of eleven. He fell in love with the game and played it all the time. There were times when he would get burnt out and not play it for a while, but he would always end up coming back to it without fail.
It was quite the silly tower defense game with all sorts of crazy looking characters. There were all sorts of "cats" in the game that one could use in battles. Hell there were plenty of unlockable units that had nothing to do with cats!
There was also a wide variety of enemies, things as simple as dogs to crazy things like a giant floating head you could fight on the moon.
It was a very unique and loved game that originated from Japan. It was Ethan's favorite game even during the times when he took a break from it. There was just something about it that he adored. He couldn't really explain why he was so passionate about it.
"Hmm, maybe I'll finally make it to Zero Legends…"
Ethan mumbled late at night while playing Battle Cats under the blanket.
He'd played on numerous accounts over the years. His current Battle Cats account was the fifth, and the one he had made the most progress on. The reason for it being his fifth account was due to past events where either his phone had broke and lost the account code or he simply wanted to start fresh. The creation of his latest account was because of the latter.
He was close to beating Uncanny Legends (UL) for the first time and would complete it by the next day, if he could grind out and beat the remaining levels that is.
"Maybe I should grind a bit of XP before the final level? It's not good to rush after all. Can't let my units fall behind in levels, especially when I start fighting the new enemies."
Ethan looked at his current unit loadout while wondering who needed levels before his vision had suddenly became blurry.
"Huh? What's wrong with me… eh my body is probably just desperate for sleep."
The young man whispered, chuckled softly and turned his phone off before setting it on the nightstand. He made himself comfortable in the bed and yawned before closing his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.
"Guess it'll take a bit longer to finally beat it…"
Right after Ethan fell asleep, a mysterious bright glow suddenly appeared and covered his body. It was even bright enough to wake up Chris, Ethan's roommate.
Chris rubbed his eyes in confusion and watched as the glow along with Ethan suddenly vanished into thin air.
"Damn… I must have drank more than I thought…"
Chris mumbled groggily and simply went back to bed, only to discover a few days later that Ethan was missing.
———————-
Darkness.
That's all there was around Ethan.
'H-huh?'
Ethan tried to move his arms but it was to no avail. He couldn't even feel them. He couldn't feel a single part of his body.
'Wh-where am I… Is this a nightmare?'
Ethan tried speaking out loud but that also failed.
Panic started to set in.
It felt like he wasn't touching the ground… like he was suspended in the air and couldn't move a single inch.
He could see nothing and the only thing he could hear was his own voice in his mind.
'This is so strange… was I too sleep deprived? Am I in a coma?'
It felt like minutes had passed as Ethan was stuck in that darkness with his thoughts.
"Do you want a second chance?"
A voice in the distance suddenly spoke with an echo.
'What!?'
Ethan tried to look for the source of the voice that suddenly appeared but he still couldn't see or move at all.
"Do you want a second chance?"
The voice repeated but sounded a bit louder that time. A small speck of white appeared in the darkness. It started as a tiny dot but slowly grew.
It wasn't actually growing… it was getting closer to Ethan.
It slowly got closer and closer, but Ethan still couldn't make it out or tell what it was.
He eventually realized that it was blurred.
It was like Ethan's vision had worsened and couldn't even adjust to the figures form.
It was white and quite large: that's all Ethan could make out.
"You can live again. You can have another chance at a fulfilling life… on one condition.
I want you to live for us, to live with us, human… live to help me bring back our former glory and live a life you find meaningful."
The feminine voice spoke with passion and determination as "she?" reached her blurry hand forward.
Ethan could feel the figure's soft blurry hand caress his currently non-existent cheek. He didn't know how he could feel it, but he didn't bother to question it at all.
'What… what sort of former glory is this figure even talking about? I'm just a broke college student… how could I possibly help?'
The voice giggled lightly as if she could hear his thoughts.
"Don't worry, young man. You'll be given resources to help you grow strong… resources to help you grow our empire. But you have to believe in yourself as well… you have more potential and willpower than you think…"
The figure spoke softly while her hand kept caressing him. Ethan couldn't help but feel an immense warmth and affection for the figure. He couldn't remember the last time someone showed affection towards him and put their trust in him.
"I'm placing all my faith in you, human."
'Y-yes. I understand… but-'
The voice interrupted him.
"There isn't much time left, my power is limited and I can't keep this place stable much longer. You'll soon come to understand what it is that you must do.
Be strong, young man. Be strong and don't let others take advantage of you ever again. Fight back against those who oppress you."
The voice became even more determined, filling Ethan's non-existent body with adrenaline and hope.
"Go forth… go forth and bring glory to the Battle C-"
Ethan couldn't hear the end of the figure's sentence as the sudden loud sound of glass breaking drowned out her voice.
Ethan watched as the surrounding darkness and the figure came crashing down like shards of glass and expose his real surroundings: a small damp cave.