The Ritual

As he clenched his eyes in pain, Milo felt his life diminish. He could feel his body placed upon the ground. His body spasmed uncontrollably, but he was unable to scream despite how much he tried.

'It's just a game...it's just a game! The pain isn't real! It's just a game!!!" Milo chanted within his mind like a mantra as he attempted to calm down.

Slowly opening his eyes, Milo slowly saw the floating ball of blood shoot towards his chest at a rapid speed. He could feel the viscous liquid on his left breast before a sharp pain cut into him. As he flailed about, he could see the blood tearing him open like a sharp blade and seeping into his wound.

Milo couldn't help but regret the decision to turn the reduce pain setting to the maximum before logging into the game. The boys had decided that they would not use the reduce pain setting to make it as realistic as possible, and because in various novels they had read, being able to feel pain made you a better player. At this point, he just wanted to punch every single one of them in the face for their stupid idea. Milo felt a sharp pain in his chest, and his vision began to blur, but he insistently looked at his chest to see what in the hell was going on, but again, he immediately regretted his decision. They were ripping out his FREAKING HEART!

'ARGHHHRHGH!!!! NOPE! LOG ME OUT! LOGGG OFF!' wailed Milo inside his head. A screen appeared in his vision, but due to his blurring sight, he was unable to read it. He felt nauseous as everything faded to black, but soon, he felt something entering the gaping hole in his chest. A bright light emanated from the alchemic circle, and he glanced once more at the hole to see the alchemic heart pumping inside him. He felt something within him latch onto the heart that cleared his mind.

The burning within his lungs and limbs subsided at a slow yet steady pace, but the suffering from the hole in his chest still drove him agonized him.

"Cast the healing spell!" the annoying child voice yelled shortly after, he could see the wound on his chest close at a rapid pace and the nausea lift. Milo could feel the cold sweat drenching his entire being and sighed in relief.

"Now! Cast the body reformation spell!" screamed Lord Archus as he took his hands and starting doing signs. A loud monotonous chanting reverberated throughout the room, and Milo could feel his blood pulling and stretching his body. Soon he could feel the breaking of all his bones as they broke and rehealed rapidly as the bone and iron morphed into a stronger and standard shape of a humanoid. The pain was too much for Milo as his mind was on the brink insanity.

'A...ad..admin' tiredly he cried within before all the pain suddenly vanished and he fainted.'

The blue window that had appeared when Milo first called out for help floated there. Within it, "Currently in battle, unable to log out" displayed. To its side, another window appeared "Administrator will arrive shortly, due to the high amount of administrative calls the wait will take roughly 2 hours and 46 minutes. Thank you for playing Althera!"

Despite Milo passing out, the ritual continued as it slowly changed his entire being. His previous body was around 2 feet tall with significant deformities like an enlarged skull, large feet, and hands with short limbs. Technically, when he was first created, all of the muscles, flesh, and organs had atrophied into an unusable state. The liquid within the vat was concentrated healing potion used to put his body in a stasis like state. Currently, Milo's flesh and bones were being broken down while being revitalized at the same time. The thick iron that coated his bones was being manipulated by magic as it thinned out and coated the bones that grew longer. The alchemic heart placed within him provided a magical process that allowed his muscles and flesh to grow at an accelerated rate that would match the original owner's age. Soon enough, Milo became what he initially saw within the character creation except for his skin, which was pale and eyes that were sunken with deep dark bags.

The entire procedure was incredibly complicated as multiple researchers played a decisive role in his bodily restructure, and it took them around two and a half hours to finish. Unfortunately, after being medically examined by the researchers, they realized that the air itself was slightly toxic to the experiment. His lungs were still unable to filter the air properly, as each breath caused a small amount of damage that would accumulate over time.