"Of Days and Masters"
He woke up and tried to stretch. His body was aching from the last night events. The pain between his solder pads was especially bad. It felt like a fiery bullet stuck deep in his spine. The right arm was not much better. The last month the control over the weapon was getting harder than ever. Every single trigger pulled also shot an excruciating pain up his forearm right into his elbow. In the night the muscles continued convulsing and he had to massage them till the exhaustion could push him back to sleep....
But to day was the last day of this madness! And of course it was The First Day Of The Rest Of His Life!! Well, rather tomorrow would be TFDOTROHL... (Somehow the abbreviations became part of his life. He would even curse in abbreviations and find it quite cute, tbh.) Oh, yeah! From tomorrow he would leave this damned place, start shaving regularly, go out and meet people. People that never ever heard about his deadly profession. Those who he met every single day and night never really cared about him. All they knew was to praise and curse his unparalleled skill in killing. For long time he was proud of that! Oh yes, he was! Being the only true Grand Master, notorious for his cunning moves and merciless rifle was his biggest achievement! No one dared to deny his title! No doubt he was the one that deserved it most - all these years of restless hunting and training paid off.
His gear was matched by very few and envied by many. The key to the success, however, was in his dedication. He has tried every trick in the book, rewrote the whole lot, over and over again. Above all he found that patience worked best! "The world belongs to those who can wait." He has proved that so many times: he could dress like a guard and stay like frozen for hours waiting for his victim to pass by; pretend to be a dumb mine worker or even a doctor in order to sneak to his target and bring it down before they could even react.
He firmly believed he was guided by the stars! The very stars showed him his victims and guided him to his glory!
But the better he grew the thought about the death started to sneak into his mind. In the beginning he was fearless. As one of the thousands anonymous newcomers he lost many battles. Never really died - always managed to run and recover from his wounds. Sometimes his enemies would gang on him, but somehow his lucky faith would always protect and save him. Even when the pain was slamming like a white wall in his face, his instincts would guide him to a safe place, far from his pursuers.
With the advance in the ranks of his profession he became wiser. "Never start a fight that you cannot win". The Grand Master always picked carefully his targets. Try to lure them in a trap where they would have no support, or even send a couple of low-paid mercenaries to exhaust them and to make them bleed. Then he moved for the kill. "Always open fire first! Always concentrate! Never let them run away!"
Simple tactics, one might think, but he had refined them to the absolute perfection. That's how he became so famous! All called him the Grand Master! Even the few friends he had addressed him like that.
Several months ago though, something changed. While he was waiting in a cave for his prey to show up, that thought struck him: no one knew his name! His title was all that everybody could see! Since then he started to wonder why the hell did he live among those who never saw the person in him. He liked reading books, watching films, talking about philosophy and even making people laugh... Well, at least years ago he used to. Why no one ever asked that about him but always wanted either gear, money or advises to become better in killing?!
But that was it! Enough of that crap! He would just drop all and leave! That was the firm decision he made in that dark cave, and had not fulfilled so far. He couldn't leave because of this haunting sense of something missing.
He was after the best weapon there was. For whole 8 months he had searched and researched how to make that rifle. It almost felt like giving a birth... Finally - there was this last part he had to get today, to complete the gun. Then he would show it to the whole world by making his last grand battle against the one who dared to challenge his position. Only then he could say "I have it all now! I am the best of the best!" and at the top of his glory to leave! Yes, he daydreamed about a new city, new life, new world! The gods were his only witness - he worked hard and deserved to break free form the wretched reality he has sunk in.
"Keep it on target, man!". He pushed back his dreams and prepared for the last day of this damned way of life. The ammo was carefully checked, the gear rearranged and the 1st aid put handy to use. he loaded his favorite rifle and went out on the street. Almost subconsciously he checked for potential victims. Few newcomers... a couple that obviously enjoyed their meaningless socializing... Then he came into sight - a wounded daemon puppeteer. Dragging himself to the nearby clinic and looking with a panicked expression over his shoulder. The stars flashed in the Grand Master's eyes and the well-known scream filled his head "KILL HIM!? Automatically, he took position, lifted his rifle - all he needed was couple of shots with good concentration.
Then suddenly he lowered his weapon - he fought the urge and forced himself not to be distracted from the big plan. It was a flaw only he was aware of - he has lost many opportunities lured by a easy kills. But not today! Not today!
He moved away, hoping no one noticed his hesitation and rushed to the nearby teleport entrance. Several hops later, a short run along a valley and he reached his secret place. The one that had disguised the hideout, did it quite cunningly. The entrance was next to one of the many abandoned mines. Place where only the newcomers would come to hunt for almost worthless loot. In his research he found that the secret door would open once in while and only if you knew where it was you could use it. The woods nearby were painfully familiar. he has spent many, many hours by the campfire waiting to see and discover the secret of this place. All that time he had to be alone. The stakes were too high to trust even his very few friends. The one and only gun should be his! No one else deserved it or could use it better!
Today there was no need to start a camp. Just few minutes after he arrived, the secret passage became accessible. The Grand Master swiftly pushed the rock covering the entrance and after a moment of blackness he was in! The trip to the beast liar where the muzzle was hidden was short. Obviously the guardian was there not to stop him but to discourage any newcomer who could get in by chance. Killing the monster was equally fast and simple.
And finally the best quality muzzle was his! The blue material perfectly fitted in the gun's base. Blue was not his favorite colour but that didn't matter. The important thing was that the weapon had the most powerful punch ever. It was the fastest one and could kill -anybody- in just three shots. He slammed the muzzle in the prepared base and The Gun was ready. He equipped it immediately and it felt good. It was time to move out and demonstrate this treasure. Oddly, the exit was not there anymore. Instead there was a corridor going to the left and obviously into the abandoned mine.
"Bloody standard!", he thought. That's how the things were around. Even when using a thing for a million times it could suddenly stop functioning for no obvious reasons. Trees would appear where there were none before, a wall could grab you in a sticky grip and not let go (so you had to make a silly ritual to the gods to get off). The Grand Master was not intimidated - he was used to the oddities and just went down in the gallery.
There stood a lonely girl wasting her time by killing frightened monsters. What for? To take their intestines and sell them for petty change like a complete newcomer?! "Geez some people did not deserve to walk this earth..." At that moment, in the dusk of the cave, the Grand master saw the stars offering her to his rifle. He lifted The Gun and - bang-bang-bang! - the girl dropped dead. The power filled his body with pride and the stars blessed him for his courage and skill. "Only 3 shots!", his research was as good as always.
Suddenly he felt a sting in his shoulder. He turned around and saw 3-4 guys shooting at him. The Grand Master swiftly aimed at the closest one. Bang-bang-bang! "Dead!".
"Next!" There was enough time kill them all - they were poor shooters and missed a lot. Three gun kicks and this one was down too. But then, out of nowhere, started to pop more and more. The Grand Master was facing a dozen, all shooting and slashing. He took a couple of heavy hits and retreated back into the mine - it was no time for heroics. The ambush was massive. "Run now and fight another day..."
Without big problems he managed to rush to the exit and tried to open the door. Nothing happened! "WTF!?", he tried again and again. The mob was closing. The Grand Master kicked and slammed while the panic started to pump adrenaline in his brain - what if they could kill him? AND take The Gun which was rightfully his?! Luckily the door gave in and all went black. He waited for the blackness to pass so he could run in the woods and use the 1st aid.
And he waited... His blood froze like the reality around him. He felt the blackness getting inside him, he couldn't move or shoot and yet he was fully conscious! Was that how Death looked like?! Was that the way the only true Grand Master would end!?
"Oh, noooo!!!", he shouted and jumped out of his seat, but the screen was still black. He kicked the chair and immediately regretted it. Real stars flashed in front of his eyes and he screamed loud in agony. After a while the pain in his back and arm took over again and he looked back at the screen.
"Our servers are down due to an unexpected technical error. We apologize for the inconvenience. After the service is restored all characters will be moved to a save place in order to prevent any losses."
Thank the damned gods! It was just a stupid downtime! As a matter of fact that was a welcomed break - he needed a coffee. Badly... After that he would log for the last time, make that last demonstrative kill and announce his retirement.
The Grand Master searched for his coffee mug among the plates and the paper wraps piling on his desk. He found it in a half-empty bag of chips and pause for a moment. "Geez...", he looked at his room. The desk looked more like a kitchen sink after a wild party than anything else. Maybe his sister's rants were right - he should had moved all the damned computers in the kitchen and save all the extra efforts. He looked at his pale and skinny body and felt like a real pig!
But that was it! Tomorrow would be The Day! TFDOTROHL!
He shook off the disgust and limped to the kitchen cursing the chair he kicked. He filled the coffeemaker and switched it on. A glance thought the window showed only darkness outside. Not surprising - his time zone was really bad and he had to wake up in strange hours in order to rip off the best benefits from the game. Damned game! Damned all! First thing tomorrow was to check if he could go back to the university and finish his Masters. "That's ironic - Masters for the Grand Master"... Maybe get a part-time job even? His sister was paying for his small apartment and the food, but lately she grew more and more impatient with all that...
He poured a cup of coffee, put a spoon of powder cream in it and took a long sip. Time to finish the job - he dragged his body back to the room. There, on the monitor, instead of the login screen was a window with the big button "Patch needed!".
"Dear customers, we took the opportunity of this unexpected downtime to introduce a small patch. Please, upgrade your clients before logging.
Patch notes:"
He quickly browsed down the screen--
"...There are reports for a crashed alien ship outside the abandoned metropolis of New No Hope. Witnesses described a violent chase of a single alien by a huge mob of scavengers. Our reporters were told that the alien used the most destructive weapon ever seen. After one of the pursuers found the trigger mechanism of that rifle, a mad rush started in the region. The prize - an ultimate weapon, called by many The Single Shot rifle."
While the bar of the patching progress was slowly crawling up, the room was filling up by the weeps of the Grand Master.
7:30-9:00
The Train
T-5 to AI launch, 2004
