“Yaaawn!” Atlantis let out a loud yawn and looked at his viewer count.
[Viewers: 1]
‘Oh, all my friends have gone to sleep.’ Atlantis thought and rubbed his eyes.
The last remaining viewer was himself.
The rocking of the sailboat had already made him slightly seasick, and he was already dreaming about the land.
‘Should I just sleep here?’ He thought. ‘If something happens, I might wake up.’
That seemed like a wonderful idea.
Thus, he closed the stream and found a comfortable place on the wooden floor of the sailboat.
He then took out a few clothes from his inventory and arranged them in a makeshift bed for himself.
After lying down, he placed his arms below his head and closed his eyes to try to enter slumber.
The sound of gentle waves lapping against the hull provided a soothing rhythm that eventually lulled him to sleep.
Below the misty waters, in the dark depths, a mysterious hand was buried in the sand.
The hand grasped tightly at a rusty sword that had been long forgotten.
However, as soon as the crimson light from the crescent moon landed on the hand, it twitched a little bit.
…
The clean-shaven player, who went by the name of Shadowblade, looked at the dimly lit alleyways of Warhaven.
He was waiting for his friend to secure the minecart.
They found an old curtain that seemed scratched and weathered, which his friend used to cover the minecart.
They didn’t plan on logging off and logging back to leave this place faster.
It would be faster for them to move a few hours back to the surface, where their idiot friend waited.
Their temporary spawn spot was, after all, nearly five hours away.
They traveled a long distance to find the Tombs that had been scattered all around the world.
When they found the cave, they initially thought it was the Tomb or Trial.
“Done!” His friend patted the curtains and joined Shadowblade in looking at the nearby, eerie alleyways.
“Hmm.” Shadowblade scratched his cheek while contemplating whether they should check the place by themselves.
“Shadow, are we going?” His friend questioned.
He didn’t know what Shadowblade was thinking, but he wanted to check this new place out.
It was extremely exciting to be the first ones in the newly discovered area!
“Yeah.” Shadowblade nodded and looked at the stream window. “Since Bormund has left, I’ll close the stream.”
With one press, he closed the stream, as he didn’t want others to witness what they would be seeing.
They then left the area of the minecart and ventured deep into alleyways.
After they finally left the twisty alleyways, they came across a street with dark buildings and flickering street lamps.
“W-what is this place?” His friend whispered, his voice trembling.
The shadowy alleyways seemed to have led them into a mysterious and eerie part of the city.
The street looked abandoned, like no one was living there.
“I am not sure…” Shadowblade replied. “Maybe this city is abandoned, and the game developers planned this city to be only for players?”
“That would be awesome!” His friend laughed almost like a child, but then he suddenly flinched and turned his gaze to one of the buildings. “I swear I saw something!”
“Huh?” Shadowblade turned to that building, but since the windows were curtained, he couldn’t see anything. “You saw nothing. What are you talking about?”
“Uh…” His friend shook his head and nervously chuckled. “I must be more tired than I thought. Let’s get this over with so we can go to sleep.”
“Yeah.” Shadowblade agreed and followed the flickering street lamps down the dark, desolate road.
Flyers and posters littered the pavement, advertising a wanted person.
The face on the posters seemed scratched and worn, as if time had taken its toll on the image.
One of the posters had a sketched image of a black-haired young man with a sickly and tired-looking face.
That poster looked newer than others, but the name was almost completely faded away, as if someone wanted to erase it.
Creak—a distinct creak sounded from nearby buildings.
Now, Shadowblade also heard it and stopped to look at the buildings.
Behind the curtains, shadows moved discreetly.
“There was someone; I knew it!” His friend pulled out his sword and stood his ground. “Come out!”
“Calm down.” Shadowblade touched his friend’s shoulder, but he also had his hand on the sword hilt.
The buildings grew eerily quiet.
Until one of the doors fell apart, and rotting hands reached out, grabbing at the air.
Decaying people with sunken eyes and tattered clothes emerged from the darkness. They outstretched their arms towards Shadowblade and his companion.
All the nearby doors broke apart, even some windows, as the decaying people appeared all around the street.
There were suddenly hundreds of them, appearing from rooftops and nearby alleyways and from every shelter, dwelling and sewer hole possible.
“Z-zombies?!” His friend shouted in shock.
“U-unbelievable!” Shadowblade drew his weapon and wiped the shocked look off his face, as he needed to focus. “Focus, and we will survive!”
“Y-yeah!” His friend nodded and pointed his sword at the zombies, but there were simply too many of them.
Unknowingly, they had entered the infamous Street of Death.
Five years ago, this street’s name was vastly different, and it was a bustling and vibrant neighborhood full of shops and restaurants.
This happened to be one of the most normal streets in Warhaven, with fighting absolutely forbidden.
That all happened suddenly when a disease broke out and killed all the residents in the blink of an eye.
From that day on, this street had been off-limits for everyone as it was still considered to be a dangerous and contaminated area.
However, every Night of the Crescent Moon, the residents would rise from death once more.
“S-shit!” Shadowblade roared and hacked his sword into one of the undead creatures, its rotten flesh splattering everywhere.
However, he only hacked off the arm, which didn’t kill the undead creature.
The zombie continued on and grabbed Shadowblade by his clothes, soon overwhelming him with its strength and throwing him to the ground.
Shadowblade screamed loudly, but soon dozens of zombies piled on top of him, and took a large bite off his flesh.
“Shadow!” His friend screamed, but because of that one lapse of focus, he also got overwhelmed and was killed shortly afterwards.
After the corpses of the players disappeared, the zombies continued to linger in the streets, their arms outstretched towards the unknown.
They looked like puppets that had lost their puppeteer.
…
At the Dark Waters.
Atlantis soundly slept on the rocking sailboat, unaware of the surroundings.
However, then a splash sounded from the misty waters, and a hand rose and grabbed the sailboat.
The hand pulled a rotting figure, who wielded a rusty sword and was covered in seaweed.
The figure landed on the sailboat and looked at the sleeping figure with a sinister look.
But then the rotting figure sat down and looked at the rusty sword in hand, unable to remove it.
“Uuuh…” A chilly voice came from its mouth. “Finally… I managed to… leave… that place.”
The voice didn’t have any emotions, but based on the words, he was thrilled.
“Uuuh…” The figure took a deep breath but realized he didn’t have lungs. “What am I now?”
“Not a human.
“Perhaps I am… a disgusting zombie?
“No, if I were a zombie… I would want to eat this person in front of me…
“I managed to take… my trusty sword with me… from that place…”
The figure sighed and looked far into the sky, to the crescent moon.
“I see now…” The figure lowered its head. “… The crescent moon woke up my dead body, but I retained my mind.
“I can’t allow… myself to return to that place…
“I’ll find a way to immortality… no matter what. 𝑶𝗏xt.𝒸𝔬
“Until then… crescent night is not allowed to disappear.”
The figure stood up in the rocking sailboat and looked at the crimson crescent moon.
“From this night onwards, you will appear… crescent moon… I order you!”