Chapter Text
"Geez, why must it be storming out? This is going to ruin my gameplay mood!" the Player grumbled as they started up their laptop. They tried to ignore the sound of rolling thunder outside their window as they quickly entered in the password to unlock their account.
"And of course the battery is dying!" they groaned as they were greeted with a small sliver of battery life being shown on their taskbar.
Quickly setting the laptop aside, they pulled out the power cord and plugged it into the outlet. Once the battery was plugged in and charging, the Player returned to their laptop and started up an application that turned the screen black.
"Let's see how the Batter is doing this time." they said with a small smile as the white letters that spelled OFF, appeared on the black screen. The Player had started up the game yesterday after hearing about it from their online friends. They hadn't gotten far, just past the tutorial and to the save block before they had to go to bed due to it having been late in the hour.
"Alright! I'm back Batter, we can resume our duty of purifying the place!" they chuckled after seeing the white sprite of the Batter standing in front of the red box. The Player went to send the Batter out of the zone so they could continue the game. However, a rather large lightning bolt struck the electric pole out in front of the Player's house, cutting out the power.
"NO!" Was all that came out of the Player's mouth as they found themselves sitting in darkness. The only light there was coming from their dying laptop. And even then, it didn't last long as it shut down.
The Player sat there for what felt like an eternity, staring at where the black screen of their device laid in the darkness. The shock was long passed but the feeling remained was fury, enraged that their luck would give them this. But that rage was short lived as a second blast of lightning hit, and startled them. The bolt had also sent unwanted energy into the house, through the wires that snaked through the building, up the power cord and into the laptop.
The Player flinched with a slight scream as they pulled their hands away from their laptop, having felt themselves get shocked a bit. They blinked as they saw small jolts of electricity bounce through the keys of the keyboard. It was an interesting sight but also worrying, did this mean the thing was fried now? Would they have to get a new one? Or is it repairable? Is the warranty still on it?
Questions filled their mind for a few minutes until the screen started to glow faintly. They gave a small sigh of relief, thinking that it was a sign that it was okay. That is, until they noticed something odd about the glow. There was a white circle on the screen that seemed to move. At first it was subtle, until the glow grew brighter. The circle looked like it was wavering, like a ripple that was created from a rock being thrown into water.
"What the hell is that..?" the Player whispered as they slowly reached out to touch the screen.
The ripple seemed to react to the Player's touch, as is started moving a bit more violently now. Confused, they slowly pulled their hand away and it slowed down again. They repeated the process a few times, slightly entertained by it. But that entertainment turned into pure horror as the ripple broke apart into three segments and burst through the screen, wrapping themselves around the Player who screamed.
"No! Let go of me!" they shrieked as they fought against the grip of the white tendrils.
It was no use though, the tendrils only responded by tightening themselves up and practically squeezing the air out of the Player. They soon began to gasp for air, panicking as they thought they were going to die from suffocation. In their panic, they didn't notice the fact that the tendrils were pulling back into the screen, dragging them along. But when they finally noticed it, they found themselves falling into darkness, staring up at a glowing white box that they guessed was the screen.