Entering White Online, Isaac woke up in the familiar bookstore. The smell of dust was gone, replaced by calming cedar scent. While looking at the mesmerizing wallpaper, he heard a noise coming from downstairs.
Walking out of the room, he arrived downstairs shortly afterward. The store looked far different than weeks ago. The bookstore was furnished even further, looking beautiful.
The door kept opening and closing as the customers continued swarming inside.
Turning to the left, Isaac saw Ghost, working tirelessly as he kept the store open single-handedly.
''Ghost.'' Walking to the counter, Isaac's voice attracted the store's attention.
''Master!'' Ghost exclaimed with happiness and had to resist hugging. After the disappearance of his 'master', he thought something terrible must have happened.
''It must have been busy.'' While patting Ghost's shoulder, Isaac nodded in satisfaction as the business ran smoothly.
''N-Not at all!'' Ghost replied and stamped one of the books before returning it to the blushing customer, whose face changed shades after the appearance of the white-haired man.
''Do you mind if you have to take care of things here for slightly longer?''
''Not at all!'' Ghost replied energetically. Actually, he didn't mind working in the bookstore. It was miles better than floating endlessly as a dead ghost.
After patting his shoulder, Isaac left the store with light steps. The weather in Autumn Realm was quite chilly like the winter was right around the corner.
Walking in the cobblestone streets, Isaac didn't walk without direction. The coordinates in his mind showed him a direction. There was a special interface application where it was possible to put coordinates.
That was added not long ago so that the friends could find each other without having to walk around blindly.
The coordinates shone on his path, causing him to turn left and sometimes right. After entering a bustling market area, he heard an interesting conversation at the nearby coffee stand.
''Still a few weeks wait. God damn it.'' A clean-shaven man said with impatience.
His friend wryly smiled, ''The wait shall be worth it.''
''Don't you think this is strange?'' The clean-shaven man asked with a frown, ''Lord Wraith and Lord Kalzer, whose fight was one dawn away, delayed one month. Then, both of them disappeared, and no one had seen them since then.''
''Well, they both are low-key players.'' His friend said while sipping on the coffee, ''Maybe they are training. After all, the Colosseum will be packed, with millions of people watching via StreamKing. They both must be nerve-wrecked. It is the most anticipated fight.''
''Whatever. This wait sucks!''
''Anyway, did you hear about the Howling Forest?''
''Yeah... I wonder what the hell happened there. It suddenly exploded, maybe gas explosion?''
Hearing the conversation, a slight beat of heart resounded in Isaac's ears. Saying that he didn't feel pressure would be a lie. However, the pressure wasn't as big as people expected.
Shaking his head, Isaac continued walking in the direction of the coordinates. He walked past several streets, going past the marketplace with roadside stalls and restaurants. With the food scent lingering in the air, he arrived at a decent-looking apartment complex.
The coordinates took him directly past the apartment complex and forced him to turn left. After another minute of walking, the coordinates reached the end. He'd arrived at the location.
''Eh, what the hell is this?'' Frowning, Isaac looked at the dark-shadowed building with charred walls and color clearly peeled off from the walls.
''Is this really the place?'' Checking the interface, Isaac saw that the coordinates were exactly as he remembered. There wasn't a problem with not remembering the coordinates. They were quite simple.
Pulling out Silvercloud, Isaac ventured inside the abandoned building. Within an instant, a charred scent assaulted his nostrils. It smelled like someone had burnt something not long ago.
Walking further into the burned apartment, Isaac reached a living room. The furniture was nothing but a pile of ash, the fireplace looked scorched, and one of the walls had a previously ceiling-height bronze mirror. But now, it was a black mirror with cracked glass.
Creak, creak.
The floor creaked under his height. After walking to the middle of the living room, Isaac stopped and gazed underneath his foot.
'The floorboard looks slightly loose. The screws are gone,' Isaac knelt down and removed the floorboard. Beneath the floor, there was a dark abyss. The darkness swallowed the light, and it looked like the pit of the abyss had reached the center of the world.
''This must be it.'' Throwing the floorboard away, Isaac rolled up his sleeves and removed the rest of the floorboards. There looked to be some activity as all the screws were removed.
''Kalzer, Xerxus, and Amour must have been here already… and, looking at the tracks, they entered the dark pit.''
With a moment of thoughtfulness, Isaac stood up and cracked his neck, ''All-or-nothing.''
With one step, he stepped into the dark abyss. His figure fell down like a comet as he got engulfed in pitch darkness. The feeling of his body disappeared, and the far-away ceiling disappeared.
The vision turned dark.
When the breath started turning stiff, a spark of light appeared further down. At faraway, there was a whirling portal in the color green. The darkness steered away from the portal like they were too afraid to get close.
Isaac's breath started turning rapidly as he crossed his arms and fell directly into the portal. The whirling portal splashed like water before turning normal.
Isaac vanished into the portal, and the floorboards fixed themselves in the building. The charred building turned quiet, and everyone walking past ignored the abandoned building.
The children treated the building as a horror house, frightened by the idea of Ghosts lurking there. However, unknown to everyone, it was a pathway to the secret realm!
…
Ding… ding… ding…
''Argh…'' The dinging noise echoed throughout Isaac's mind, forcing him awake. After his eyes fluttered open, he saw a green hue blanketing across the cloudless sky.
The trees were firmly rooted on the ground, and the ground itself was grassless, quite crude like it'd suffered a drought.
Isaac looked curiously around as he slowly stood up. Then, he noticed the holographic messages that floated across the air.
[Welcome to Realm of Marksmen!]
[Only Players and New-Gen Humans with Marksmen Occupation or Class could enter!]
[Stage 1 - Begin!]
[Survive Till The Clock Breaks!]
