Sanna Amari
Shadowhunt
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Another hour had passed over Jakarta since Luna had discovered the game menu. The night hung heavy and hot over the megacity, but the silence that had spread after the initial chaos was deceptive. Sirens were still wailing everywhere, stuck in the traffic. From the distance came screams that sounded not of panic, but of agony. Luna, in her half-opened store hiding place, sensed a change in the air. A smell, acrid and foreign, mingled with the familiar haze of the alleyways. Her thief instinct screamed danger, but her green eyes scanned the darkness restlessly.
Then she saw it. Not a glistening portal, as Elton had seen it, but a crack in the night sky above the roofs of the slum, from which something dark and wriggling was crawling. First one, then two, then dozens. Brown, slippery, with too many legs and almond-shaped heads - insect-like, but the size of a sheepdog. Their jaws snapped as they lunged across the rooftops to the alleyways below.
Panic broke out again, louder and more desperate than before. People ran blindly, bumped into each other, fell down. A young family hiding in an alcove was discovered. The father, desperate, pulled out a knife. He stabbed, but the blade slipped, seeming to glide through the monster’s body as if it were just a breath of air. The man cried out as one of the creatures made a grab. Others tried to hit him with sticks and throw stones. All to no avail.
Luna was frozen. She had seen it. Her eyes, sharpened by survival, recognized the patterns: these things were different. And the worldly weapons were of no use. Only the "game" was real. Only the classes could make a difference. She felt her own equipment menu light up in her mind. Light, dark camouflage clothing. Two slender, sharp daggers.
Her hands twitched. Their thief skills called them to run, to hide. The creatures were instinct-driven, but fast. She could have dissolved into the shadows, become one with the alleyways in the darkness. But then she heard crying. A little girl, just fallen from a hut, lay in the dust, directly in the path of an approaching creature. Her cry for help was a shrill stab at Luna’s core.
The hunger was gnawing, the danger was real. But the sight of despair was stronger. Luna avoided the allure of the stolen goods. Instead, she used her agility to glide unnoticed to the little girl. A quick glance at the surroundings. Safe. She leaned down. "Come on," she whispered, placing her hand on the woman’s shoulder. "It’s no longer safe here. You need to get up." She mentally pulled the daggers from her equipment and felt the illusion of the weapons become real, a cool weight in her hands. The cloak seemed to wrap itself around her, making her movements smoother. She charged, a shadow amidst the chaos, straight towards the crying child and the approaching beast. A leap, as agile as a cat. A quick, precise thrust. The dagger struck, this time not gliding, but with a strange cracking sound. The creature yowled, staggered and then collapsed, dissolving in a soft hiss, almost like smoke.
Confirmation. It worked. Luna stood over the trembling child, daggers at the ready. But the creatures were still coming, crawling out of the portal, over the rooftops. Three more of the insectoid beasts stormed down an alley where a group of adults had desperately entrenched themselves. Men and women, still staring at their invisible screens or thrashing about in panic.
An elderly man stumbled and one of the creatures pulled him to the ground. His screams were bloodcurdling. A young girl, perhaps just going through puberty, tried to pull her father off. Suddenly, a transparent pop-up lit up in front of her face. "Start game." The creature snapped at the girl.
"Click it!" shouted Luna, her voice rough but urgent. She took off running, her movements fluid, utilizing every shadow zone. "The interface! Click on ’Start game’! Now! Otherwise..." She didn’t need to finish the sentence. The man on the ground had already fallen silent.
The girl stared wide-eyed at the screen, then at the creature approaching. Fear. She clicked. Hastily, instinctively. The character choice appeared. Without hesitation, she chose Warrior. A level 1 spear materialized in her hand. She thrust. The spear hit and the creature screamed. It worked. Luna reached the group. Her daggers danced, precise and deadly against the insectoid beasts that were now focused on her. She threw herself into the fight, not to collect glory or loot, but to create a path. She nudged a woman who was still hesitating. "Click! Choose! You have to play or you will die!" Her words were a brutal truth, but they were the only chance. The world was no longer the same. But it was not yet lost. And Luna, the homeless woman, the thief, fought for those who had no voice.