Message From A Stranger

~

In the streets of New York City, many more people were outside and wandering about than at the college campus Enzo lived in. The streets didn't look any dirtier than they usually look and neither did the store fronts. The city was still bustling, it was just much more toned down than usual.

Juliet could actually see a few feet in front of her while walking through Times Square, when usually it would be hard to see even the ground under her feet.

She was currently about an hour away from her apartment on the Columbia University campus because she wanted to take a long, refreshing walk.

However, as Juliet was walking past an alleyway…

"Ahh-"

Her scream was muffled by a hand as the other hand was used to pull her into the deserted, dark alleyway.

"Shhhh. I'm not going to harm you and I don't have much time, so calm down little one."

There was no way she was going to believe that from a total stranger, but she did decide to stop screaming as no one could hear her anyway.

"Good." The man said.

He continued to keep his palm clasped above her mouth as he spoke.

"I have less than 30 seconds to say this so I'm going to make it quick.

The game is more important than you think. Make sure you complete the bloodline quest or you will forever regret it. Also, protect Enzo, he is too smart for his own good. Don't tell anyone other than him that I was here."

Before she could even respond, the man disappeared into the wind.

"What the fuck…" Juliet mumbled as she looked around the alleyway for the man.

~

(Back on the campus of Stanford University in California)

Enzo was just a few minutes away from his apartment when suddenly…

Woosh!

He was plunged into darkness as if a blackhole opened up around him but didn't kill him.

"Don't panic and don't speak. I only have 30 seconds to say this so listen up my boy.

Play the game as if your life depends on it, because it does. You NEED to get first place in the Summer Event or everything will be stolen from you. The universe is going to change soon and you will not be prepared, but if you want to be as prepared as you can then you need to put in 200% of your effort. My time is up, but look after Juliet she is strong but stubborn. You cannot tell anyone but her about this interaction."

The man said the last part of the message in a hurried voice and after the last word was said the darkness faded.

Enzo found himself still standing on the sidewalk leading to his apartment.

His mind was completely blank at the moment as he just stared into space. He was having a lot of trouble processing what just happened to him.

After a minute his phone vibrated, pulling him out of his stupor.

Enzo fished his phone out of his pocket and opened it.

There was a message from Juliet that was sent privately to him and not to the rest of the group.

[Juliet:]

[Hey Enzo, something extremely weird just happened to me...]

'Ah shit.' Enzo thought to himself.

Juliet basically confirmed that what just happened to him wasn't a dream or nightmare. Enzo was trying to chalk the incident up to his imagination, but Juliet having an incident of her own proved it was real.

Enzo sent a message back.

[Enzo:]

[Yeah, something happened to me too.]

[Juliet:]

[Was there a weird man saying something to you?]

[Enzo:]

[Yup.]

[Let me video call you.]

The phone didn't ring for longer than a second before Juliet picked up the phone.

"Hey, Enzo." She said immediately.

"Yo." He responded.

Juliet was standing in the entrance to an alleyway in what looked like the middle of New York City.

"So, tell me what happened to you and then I will tell you about what happened to me." Enzo said.

He then sat down on the edge of the sidewalk as Juliet started to recount her story.

She told him about how the man dragged her into the alleyway and then paraphrased what he said to her.

Enzo shared his story as well and paraphrased what he said.

"So, what now?" Juliet asked.

"I'm not sure, but it's not as if we weren't going to put effort into the game anyway, it just seems like now we should put even more."

"Are you sure we should trust some random person?"

"I don't know to be honest, but something supernatural happened when he showed up to talk to me. I've never had something like that happen before, so I think we should take what he said seriously."

"Yeah, you might be right, but I won't fully trust some random person like that."

The roles between the two seemed to be switched today. Usually Enzo would be both paranoid and cautious, but the incident still caused him to be in a state of shock at the moment. Juliet would usually just trust what Enzo had to say, but today she questioned his decisions a bit.

"Okay Jules imma go to my apartment now, I need to find an 8th member and get some rest before the Summer Event."

"Alright, see you later Enzo."

They then hung up the phones and went back to their respective apartments.

Enzo put the incident in the back of his mind for the moment as there were more urgent matters to deal with.

He opened the group chat with the now 7 people in his gaming friend group. They had moved their group chat onto the LRO app so that anyone would be able to see it in game as well, so now their names were just their IGNs.

[Atlas:]

[Does anyone have a friend who is good and wants to play the event?]

[Best Store Clerk:]

[I do. You remember Kenny from work?]

[Atlas:]

[I do. Add him to the group chat if he wants to play.]

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Thank you all for the tremendous support since this novel came out, and welcome to all the new readers I hope you enjoy.

Now, are you all ready to see some pirates? ;)

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