2

Cryo awoke to bright light streaming through his bedroom window. For a short while, he realized that he was feeling extremely excited but could not remember the reason why he felt that way. Suddenly it occurred to him: He was visiting Ganol Studios today!

“Today’s the day! Today is the day that my life changes forever”

Cryo peered off the side of his bed at his phone, safely plugged in before he went to sleep. Picking the phone up and turning it over, he was greeted by the familiar background picture of one of the loli characters in Ultima Online, along with what seemed like hundreds of confused texts from his group chat from the night before.

“Man, what’s so hard to understand, why are my friends so confused. I explained it enough in the text. Ugh…”

Cryo got out of bed and took a shower, every second thinking about his new prospect. He got dressed in an Ultima Online shirt that he’d bought from the online store and a pair of black jeans. On his way out, he remembered it was winter in Japan so it was bound to be freezing outside, so he grabbed a green and yellow jacket he had hanging on a coat rack, not even realizing how pathetic it was that he had spent so much time in his room that he had forgot the season outside. Opening the door to his garage, Cryo grabbed the keys from their familiar spot and opened his garage door, revealing the cold and annoyed faces of Gig, Shigeto, and Yuso.

“Hey guys what can I do for you?”

“You idiot, we’ve been texting you all night. Ganol Studios doesn’t have an HQ” Shigeto said

“Haha, very funny, you’re just jealous.”

“No, seriously, we looked it up and everything. Ganol Studios is the studio that made Ultima Online, but the HQ doesn’t exist.” Yuso added.

“Alright then, fine, I’ll drive there and show you pictures later on.”

“Whatever, just be safe and don’t get too mad when you’re proved wrong. We’re gonna go get some coffee.” Gig said.

“Alright, see you later guys.”

As the trio cleared out of Cryo’s driveway, he got into his Nissan GTR that he’d been able to purchase due to the amount of money he was making as a content creator, and started the engine.

“Man, those guys are gonna be so shocked when I show them those pictures”

With that thought in mind, Cryo backed into the road and drove to the point he had specified in his GPS.

-*~-~*-

After an hour of driving, Cryo was reminded that he forgot to eat breakfast by the tumultuous noise coming from his stomach. Luckily, the GPS showed a gas station nearby so he took the route to the station. Parking in one of the spots, he walked inside to the familiar glow of a gas station fluorescent lighting.

“Good morning! Thanks for coming!” The cute girl at the register said

“Thank you, I’ll only be a moment”

“No, no take your time sir” She said with a smile

“Jeez, she’s so pretty when she smiles” Cryo thought

As he walked over to where the half-decent food was, the door to the gas station burst open and a man dressed in all-black came through the door with a pistol in his hand, pointing it at the cute girl on the register

“Everyone GET DOWN! GIVE ME ALL THE MONEY IN THE REGISTER NOW” the masked man shouted.

“AAAAH, SOMEONE HELP ME” The cry of the register girl seemed to echo in Cryo’s mind

“You’re one pretty flower, I think I’ll take you with me.” the man said, grabbing the register girl and pointing the gun to her head

Cryo looked up from the food to see the faces of shocked shoppers and the tears falling on the pretty girl’s face. A spark ignited inside of him. Remembering the grief he had felt from his parent’s death that had occurred in a house fire, he knew he had to do something, even if he died, he at least would have tried to save someone. Cryo noticed that he was out of the line of sight of the robber, and the robber was occupied with the register, so without thinking, Cryo got up and rushed to the robber, diving into him and somehow knocking him over. The world seemed to move in slow motion as the pistol luckily was torn off of the girl’s head and was aimlessly fired. With the world still in motion, Cryo smiled, realizing he had finally done something worthwhile and had prevented a death. However, to Cryo’s disdain, the bullet had bounced off of a tire rack and although it had lost much of its momentum, it made its way to the soft part of Cryo’s head, and the world went dark. On the outside, the customers took advantage of Cryo’s diversion and apprehended the robber, securing the life of the cute register girl. Cryo’s body was picked up and rushed to a hospital, where he would be diagnosed with a coma. However, he was not dead.

Somewhere in the endless void of black, Cryo saw a light.

End of Chapter///