My name's Searcy and I used to have horrible nightmares about a paper mache black vulture that would turn into a shadow version of itself then it would chase me down a seemingly endless hallway; my other nightmares would be about me walking into a patch workshop and deformed and disturbing works of hell killing and brutally tearing my body apart, being abandoned by the side of the street by my parents and ran over by a car, drowned by a shark, lost in the wilderness and attack by apes, and monsters doing unspeakable things to me. I would cry at night and called for my parents each night it happened. Soon though the nightmares went away as I started to play a free-to-play browser RPG game called, "Adventure Quest."
It's a 2-D, hand-drawn artwork characters, with turn-based combat. It was a teen-rated game so there was little blood and gore, with very little swearing. I played it for six out of its ten years plus lifespan. I didn't know, however, that it would be the thing that gave me back my nightmares. I had made my character, " Max Trigon", six years ago, and play only has him alone for the six years I've been playing. He's high leveled but his level could always be higher so every weekend, starting Friday, I would play the game non-stop for three days straight for grinding purposes. The normal-looking town of Battleon and my hub were still like I remember them to be, wooden shops with a guardian tower looking over them. There was the magic shop ran by Warlic the town's Archmage, the inn ran by weaponsmith, Yulgar and his apprentice Hans, Aria who run the town's pet shop, Miss Fix-it, the game bug fixer with Valencia the Z-token shop vender and last but not least, Robina the ranger and shop keeper of the ranged weapon shop. Twilly the moglin who stood by the tree, he would heal you if you needed healing from fighting some monsters.
I went to check the shops to see if there was anything new and upon exiting one of the shops, I found a new event called, "Battleon's Fall." The name alone excited me because it sounds like something cool was going to happen, it may be a new saga with new quests, monsters, and rewards. I checked the home page to see if there was any information on the new possible saga when I found that there was nothing on it, I assumed they didn't have the quest on the front page yet so I went to see for myself what was going to happen to my beloved town. The quest started out with a cutscene with Ghin the Anti-Guardian and six shadowed figures talking about destroying battleon and killing Max Trigon. Ghin then spoke with text stating: " I'm tired of my plans to destroy the guardians being foiled by that chosen loser, it's time I finally get my revenge!" "And you will Ghin... But you must promise us a sacrifice in return, deal?" asked one of the figures. "We want a half-bred demon's soul... Get us that and we will give you what you desire." Ghin was confused but complacent, " Very well, you will get a soul." The six figures begin to audibly laugh loudly, causing me to fall back on my seat. I never heard any audible sound besides some music and the sounds of fighting, but never any voice acting, even laughing.
I was excited as most dialogue is in the text rather than voice acted, so I wondered if there would be more than just laughing, but there wasn't. Admittedly I was a little disappointed, but still loved what they did. Continuing with the story, after laughing, one of the figures blasts Ghin then proceeds to brutally beat and rip into Ghin leaving him barely alive and awake. He was bloody and barely recognizable, with so many dents and craters on his broken body and his armor shattered leaving cracks and dents with his blood seeping through said cracks, it almost made me sick. Ghin tried his hardest to stand up without falling down, as he did this he asked, "Why... Why would you do this to me?" The figure that pummeled him stated, "You are our sacrifice half-blood.
"You agreed to our dealership and you simply doing your part." Ghin was infuriated by, what seemed like a betrayal, he rushed at the figure only to be absorbed by him. The figure then took his form but had looked like he had gone to war, with his body being pure black aside from the deep red striped across his chest along with human flesh hanging off his clawed fingers as if he killed someone. I was scared by this and try to exit out of the quest any way I could, but not even shut off the computer worked so I tried to un-plug it but sparks would hit me if I got too close. Eventually, I said "Fuck it" and left the room so I could try and fix it. Before I could even step out of the door though, Shadow Ghin said, " Where are you going, Searcy?" A chill went down my spine as I turned around with Shadow Ghin looking at me. "What did you say?" I asked, "Where are you going, Searcy?" Ghin repeated.
I sat down and started talking with Ghin. "I was going to find something to shut the computer down with" I replied. "Play the quest and finish it, you not going to get out of this." I was stunned, I couldn't believe what I was hearing or doing. I decided to continue playing just so I can shut my computer off then sell it so I would never see this again. The figures then talked about how to kill Max Trigon and destroy the town of Battleon. I felt like I was asleep and my nightmares were haunting me again, but I knew I was awake. The quest then goes to Max and Warlic talking about spells scrolls and magic items. "I like the Darkness Drag-- AGGGHHHHHH!!!!!" Warlic shouted in pain as his brain felt like it was going to blow up, "Max Trigon! Get the blocking spell from the shelf!" Max did so and read the spell to activate it. Warlic quickly recovered from the pain and ran to the shelf, picking up scrolls and magical ingredients, but the ingredients, mixing them and started chanting a spell from one of the scrolls.
"Only one thing could have done this... Here it is! It can't be..." "What?" Max asked. "Only one person can handle this..." Warlic had a worried look on his face. " Um... Is it me?" asked Max. "Sorta... You'll know what you need to do when the time comes." Warlic said. "Isn't that a bit cliche?" asked Max, Warlic gave him an angry look. "Sorry," Max said. Warlic then changed color and the pain from before started up again, "KILL!!!" exclaimed Warlic. Warlic rushed Max then a battle started. Confused and frightened, I began to fight Warlic, he's really weak, and his stats are way below a level fifty enemies. A few swings and he goes down, but his defeat animation was the scariest part, he spurted black goo all over the place from different parts of his body while screaming "soul" violently.
After the fight, I leaned back in my chair and wondered if I should continue or cop-out and try to find a way to shut it down. Just then a cutscene plays out with Max regretting killing Warlic and vows for vengeance, it doesn't take long for him to get his wish. The six figures get halfway through the Greenguard forest to Battleon before Max stumbles upon them. "So, this is the famous Max Trigon, uh? You don't look so strong. Maybe you're still upset about your friend?" stated S. Ghin, "Your guilty for this crime?! Then prepare to DIE!" A battle starts when I wonder, Max Trigon was never this violate before why is he now?, What was the devop-- A thought darted across my mind, this quest wasn't on the front page. Did the developers even make this quest or did someone from the HQ put this quest in? Why would he/she do such a thing? Now instead of fear, I felt curiosity, so I continue with the fight, the description read, "A nightmare clouded by shadow, the fear of a man named Searcy."
I was scared shit-less now, to have something know my name, let alone in the description, and to have an enemy talk was just too much to take. I was now convinced that someone who knew me quite extensively made this quest. The person had to be really close as I only told my family and really close friends about my nightmares. But before I could continue my thoughts, I soon realized the figure as it shifted from Ghin's form to the shadow vulture I grew to fear. I became enraged started to attack relentlessly with my more powerful attack possible ranging from 200-300 damage. Soon the bird had one hit point left, but before I could finish it, its neck snapped and its legs bent in a way that wasn't humanly possible, I almost puke at the sight of it, but held out and attacked one last time to finish it.
The next five battles were also from my nightmares, but I killed them off as well. A cutscene started up, "You beat us Searcy, but you still lose," I was confused as to what that meant but I didn't wonder for long, as the six nightmares grouped together and towered over Max. Soon, they engulf Battleon in flames as the shopkeepers and residents ran out burning alive screaming for the elemental lords to save them but to no avail. I started to gasp in horror as Max started to cry. "Yes, weep for your town Max Trigon, weep over your failure!" said the titian, "No, NOW YOU PAY!!!" exclaimed Max. Max had no choice but to finish what I had started and fight off the huge behemoth with his Blade of Awe in one hand and his Guardian Blade in the other. He started to rip flesh from bone on the titan's body in a way I never seen happen before, there would be some action scenes in the game, but not to this extent. The titan screams in agony almost blowing out my speakers, soon the titan fell and Max was victorious. Max started to say something, until the titan below a huge, ear-piercing, cry, causing Max to trip and break his neck, killing him instantly.
I was shocked as blood poured from his broken neck, and I began to cry before realizing, he can come back to life! If you died in the game, you'll see Death in an old ship, saying how he's met his quota of souls so he'll let you live. I reassured myself then it began to play the regular Death meeting scene except, instead of letting me live, he punishes me for killing the nightmares and committing the sin of killing Warlic, he then threw me into hell where Max screams of pain drown out the roars of the flames. The computer shut down from my previous attempts to shut it down as I stare at the blank screen, slowly shedding tears. I threw out my computer then cry into my pillow until I fall asleep. In my dreams, I dreamt again of the black vulture.