Fracture

It was on the night of Christmas Eve that Alex had engaged in a bloody struggle with another combatant in the cage for the crowd's entertainment. Normally he would spend the holidays with his family. However, he was not on the best of terms with them at the moment, after an intense argument over his future a few months prior. For the past few months he had been living at his dorm at the University of Nevada Las Vegas He had not spoken to his family since, and as such elected to spend the night of Christmas Eve fighting for a regional promotion in Las Vegas. Partially because he wanted to advance his career, and partially because he needed money. The 19 year old fighter had taken a severe blow to his ego this night, though this would pale in comparison to what would come next.

            The clock struck midnight and rather than the joyous occasion of celebrating Christmas, Alex was just leaving the arena he had fought in. Nearly everyone in attendance had already left the establishment, he alone stood outside the arena gazing up at the center where he just suffered a sudden defeat. He would have nobody to share his suffering with this night. Donning his gym bag which he had slung over his shoulder, he began making his way over to his truck.

            As he began to approach his vehicle, he was confronted by a vagrant holding a sign with the words "Repent! The end is nigh!" These soothsayers had started popping up in every city around the globe earlier this month. Preaching about a fantastical apocalypse that would befall the world on Christmas day. Of course, nobody took them seriously, how many times had homeless people ranted about some incoherent nonsense in the past? More than enough to cry wolf. Still it was strange that so many of them appeared across the world preaching the same nonsense, maybe it was a coordinated internet trolling campaign. Alex didn't pay the man any attention as he avoided him and headed for his truck. Just as he was about to insert his keys into the door of his truck, he felt a hand grasp his shoulder from behind. He immediately shrugged his shoulders and protected his neck as he turned around ready to fight. It was a natural instinct from a fighter who had been training for many years. What he saw however was the crazy vagrant he had just passed by. The man grabbing onto him aggressively stared at him with frantic eyes mouthing the words "The end… The end has come!" Alex shoved the old vagrant away from himself and screamed at him "Get off me you fucking lunatic!", immediately unlocking his car and driving away from the crazy old man who lie still in the parking lot. Though as he drove away the last thing he saw of the old man was a wicked grin spread across his face. Having shivers down his spine he turned on the radio to the local rock station trying to ignore the night he was having. He figured he might as well go to the liquor store and pick up some whiskey, it was going to be a long night.

            After driving for some time he finally arrived in front of a liquor store with a worn down appearance. *Clearly this establishment has seen some better days* he thought to himself as he pried open the doors. Though he was 19, he carried himself with such confidence that it was easy to trick clerks into selling him alcohol, especially with his fake ID. He treaded down the isles of the store looking for a cheap brand of whiskey. Even though he made some money tonight, he didn't want to waste more than he had to. After selecting the cheapest bottle of whiskey he could find, he approached the clerk to the shop. The clerk must have been intimidated by his roughed up appearance, because she wouldn't even look at him in the eyes, as such she didn't even card the kid which she otherwise would have. After paying the girl he grabbed his bottle an walked out the door without saying a word, only opening the bottle and taking a giant swig. 

As he stood outside the shop drinking from his bottle of whiskey, the lights around him suddenly gave out, the street went completely dark. "Great, a fucking blackout, just what I need" he groaned as he climbed into his truck. Though not yet intoxicated, as he had a high tolerance to alcohol, it was still not a good idea for him to drive, though he didn't really seem to care about that. He turned the keys into the ignition only to discover that nothing happened, not even the hint of a sound. He tried to turn it over again, and again. Yet still the same response. "Seriously? Are you kidding me? How the hell can this night get any worse?" he bemoaned as he got out of his truck and slammed the door. He pulled out his phone and tried to call Roadside Assistance, however his phone was completely dead as well. "Fuck it, I guess I'm walking home" he muttered as he strode forward towards his residence continuing to take swigs from the bottle, increasing his level of intoxication as he did so.

As he neared the campus of the University he came across an alleyway where he nearly vomited from the thick scent that permeated the air. *Blood* was his only thought, even in his half drunken state he could easily tell what that smell was, but he had never come across such a strong degree of the scent. Perhaps his inebriated state made him more brave than he'd normally be but for whatever reason He placed his bottle of whiskey on the street corner, and took a fighting stance as he cautiously walked into the alley to see what had transpired. What he saw terrified and confused him. A classmate of his whom he had little interaction with was now lying dead, with his brains bashed out by a blunt object. Standing atop his corpse biting into his arm frantically was some kind of little green toddler. Beside it was a club stained in the blood of his classmate. The creature clearly hadn't noticed his presence yet, and so he stood there baffled by the scene affixed in front of his eyes. Foolishly he opened his mouth and muttered "Damn, I must be drunk if I'm seeing shit like this". Though he had never hallucinated before while intoxicated, he simply couldn't believe his eyes. The little green creature stopped stuffing it's face, and turned around now acutely aware of the presence of an intruder. 

The creature picked up its club and smacked Alex in the femur with it. Though the creature didn't have enough strength to do any significant damage to Alex's femur, it still hurt like hell, instantly sobering him up and making him realize the situation before him was very real. He took a fighting stance immediately and teep kicked the little creature in the head pushing it into the wall. After the impact it dropped its club and was dazed, even if it was a push kick, it dealt significant trauma to the creature's brain. However, it quickly got ahold of itself and reached for the club. Not wanting this monster to get ahold of its weapon, Alex lunged forward and placed it in a front headlock. The green creature growled, and howled like a beast, and even made noises that resembled a foreign language as it struggled out of the headlock. Finally it managed to bite Alex, enraging him to the point where he instinctively cranked the little creatures neck, killing it instantly as its spine broke. 

Staring at the scene in front of him there was a dead body of a classmate, and a dead body of some green rat faced toddler like monster. He had no idea what was going on, thoughts began flashing in his head and his vision became disoriented *Did I just murder that thing?* *Can it even count as murder* *wait what about that kids body?* *am I going to get blamed for that?* His mind was in a total state of panic, but then his eyes spotted something in the bottom left corner of his view. There was a sentence flashing in the corner of his eye [You have slain a goblin and gained 23 xp]. After seeing this he checked the message a second, and third time, just to make sure he was seeing right. 

"What the fuck is going on?" he fretted about aloud. *You know what Alex, you're dreaming, none of this is real. When you wake up in the morning you won't remember any of this insanity* he decided in his half intoxicated state that this was all just a dream, and he walked back to his whiskey chugging it down as he stumbled back to his dorm. When he got to his dorm room he fumbled with his keys before opening the door, he didn't even bother to check to see if his room mate was home, he simply collapsed onto the bed, face first and bottle in hand before dozing off into his sleep.