11:00 AM
Damn. I'm done for if I don't find a source of income within the month, the money from selling my old account will only last that long.
Brenden looked at his phone screen showing a group chat of five people, him plus four others. His face grew increasingly darker for each new message that popped up.
-----
[Emperors Only]
Beast Emperor (Me): Where are you guys? I've been waiting here for half an hour already. We agreed to line up early for Mythica Online, yet I ain't see a trace of ya'll.
Warrior Emperor: I'm almost there.
Beast Emperor (Me): Bullshit!! You've said that fifteen minutes ago, and I didn't see anyone. I thought that you would be her first since you own a motorcycle.
Dark Emperor: +1
Light Empress: +1
Mech Emperor: +1
Beast Emperor: Now you decided to all pop up, huh?
Light Empress: We're close, you're at the square in front of the mall, right?
Beast Emperor (Me): Yassir.
Mech Emperor: image.jpg
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Huh?
Brenden tapped the image to view it and saw himself sitting on a bench staring at his phone with furrowed brows. A shiver went up from his spine as he quickly looked up, but didn't see anyone in front of him.
He looked to the left.
No one.
To the right.
No one.
"What are you looking at?"
A whisper suddenly sounded from his right, so close that Brenden could feel the heat from the speaker's breath.
Swish!
Brenden subconsciously swung his right arm hitting the speaker right in the face, his fist making a low thud sound as the back of his hand kissed its face.
"Ah! What gives man!" A loud shout along with a bit of laughter sounded from behind Brenden.
He looked back to see a young man crouching there, covering the area where the hit landed.
"You know what would happen if you do that Larry." Brenden approached and didn't hesitate to swing his arms five more times, then as if not satisfied, he rotated his shoulder preparing to swing once more.
"Stop! Stop! I was just joking." The man stood up and wave his arms to try and block the incoming punch.
"Yeah, that's right, now you're joking, the next second you gonna be choking."
Although he said those harsh words, Brenden stopped and looked at his phone that was buzzing non-stop since the image was sent.
He saw that there were messages asking if 'Mech Emperor' is okay, he replied quickly, 'Larry's okay, he's just joking' with a smiley face at the end.
Instead of quieting down, the buzzing grew even more frantic with messages asking if he's really okay.
A smile grew on his face that twisted to the base of his ears, making him look eerie and ugly, the very face that mothers around the world warn their children about.
Pressing the voice message button, Brenden moved the phone close to his lips, before speaking in a deliberately deep voice.
"If you really wanna see if Larry's alive or not, you better get your asses here quickly."
Larry just stood besides Brenden during the whole thing, didn't say anything, didn't send any messages that he's alright.
"Hey, do you still have biscuits? Or any bread? I know you always bring some whenever you go outside."
Larry extended his arm, fingers all spread out waiting for the food, on his face, a wide smile that already expected the food.
Brenden's smile froze, his brows furrowed once more as he looked at the hand in front of him, then to the face that was blooming like a flower.
A rotten one.
With that thought aside, Brenden pushed Larry aside, before sitting once more on the bench. He then opened his backpack and took out a classic three piece peanut butter biscuit snack in the Philippines.
"That's the one." Larry licked his lips, extending his arm once to grab it, only to be slapped away by a hand.
"What?" He looked at Brenden again, eyes wide, mouth open.
Then back at his hand that was slapped away.
"So this is it. Twenty years of friendship, and you won't even give me a bite."
He turned back, retreating all the way to the other side of the bench. A faint tear escaping from the corner of his eyes, sliding slowly down his cheek, flowed to his chin before it dropped down to the wooden grains.
Brenden sat on the other side, the biscuit pack already opened, in one hand was one and a half of biscuits. Seeing what Larry did, he pretended to put the cookies into his mouth.
"Wait, wait, bro, gimme that."
Larry quickly snatched the biscuits and placed them inside his mouth, chewing them so fast that he practically swallowed those biscuits in a second.
"World never gets boring when it comes to you two, Brenden and Larry." A soft female voice chuckled followed by a male voice.
"Even if they were the only two persons left on Earth, they would still be able to find ways to entertain themselves."
"Ella, Rafael, good to see that you two are still together." Larry waved to the two who had just arrived.
The two waved back before quickly freezing when they heard Brenden's words.
"That's an interesting way to put it, why don't I start with the two of you? It's a noble sacrifice that's quite rare these days."
Seeing the two fall silent, Brenden didn't bother and just went back on his phone to browse the 'Mythica Online' official page.
The two looked at each other and just smiled before sitting down on the other bench besides Brenden and Larry's.
After another 5 minutes or so, a loud voice came from the left, the four looked simultaneously in that direction to see a huge man running towards them, drawing the attention from those nearby.
"Guys! I'm! Sorry! I'm! Late!"
The four exchanged glances, carrying out a silent communication with their eyes.
Let's pretend we don't know him?
Agreed!
With that, the four stood up at the same time and started speed walking towards the mall entrance, they ignored the shout of the one following from behind.
It was only when they entered the mall that the huge man from before caught up to them, one sentence went through their minds at the same time.
Crap, I forgot that this guy's an athlete.
"Why did you guys decided to suddenly run off?" The hug man rubbed the back of his head with a smile on his face, as he took out a handkerchief towel from his pocket to wipe his face.
"We bet who could get here the fastest without running," Brenden quickly came up with a reason as an excuse.
"What?! How could you guys! Why did you not include me in this bet?" The huge man shouted once more with deep grievance, attracting the attention of the crowd once more.
Larry quickly placed his hands over the man's mouth while the other two dragged him inside the mall, as Brenden vehemently apologize to the people at the entrance.
"It's not fair to include you in the bet, Juan, I mean. Look at you, you're huge, and an athlete on top of that."
Brenden put both his arm in a to measure the width of Juan's shoulder, before patting him on the shoulder and saying.
"Not to mention that you're late, well, all of you are, but you're the latest. And remember the rules of the group?"
"Whoever is the last to arrive treats everyone to a meal." Juan repeated in a low voice, as if he could see his wallet thinning out before even buying the virtual helmet.
"Well, shall we eat first? It's about to be lunch after all, we surely don't want to be hungry while lining up for the helmets right?" Ella suggested, to which the other four agreed to, now the problem is where.
After repeated arguments on where to eat, it was finally decided through the use of the spin the wheel website, which landed on Larry's favorite fast food resto, the SFC's
Then with a quick walk to the second floor, the group ordered the cheapest 99 pesos meals from the kiosk, totaling 495 pesos.
Having eaten, the group then walked to the where the store is located, where they have to go up a few levels up to the 5th floor.
Upon arriving there, all that they saw was a long line spanning from one end of the mall all the way to the other end.
Twice.
The good thing was, the end of the line was near the escalator that they came up on. No need to walk all the way to the other side of the mall just to line up.
"I think we should just go back tomorrow, even earlier at that, around 5 am should be good." Larry said, wiping the cold sweat on his forehead that formed from just seeing the line.
"No."
"If we settle to buy tomorrow, we'll be one day behind all the other players that bought the helmet before the launch." Brenden replied while rummaging through his backpack.
The other four closed in while subtly guiding the whole group to the end of the line. They watched as Brenden pulled five collapsible chairs from his bag, along with mini fans in five different colors.
"You wouldn't expect me to forget to bring these guys knowing that it's gonna be along line, right?" Brenden smiled smugly seeing the stunned looks on his friends faces.
"Is this even allowed?" Rafael asked, while shifting a glance toward a staff that was already looking their way.
"Of course it is, it's even listed on the official website as guidelines for those who are gonna buy the helmet."
Brenden pulled out his phone and showed the other four the guidelines for buyers.
[Guidelines for buyers:
-Bring collapsible chairs if possible.
-Bring snacks and beverages to sustain the long journey.
-Pack a whole lot of patience enough for twenty years.
-Good luck.
P.S. Bring the money needed.]
"I knew that we could count on you, Brenden." X4
Ella, Juan, Larry, and Rafael patted him on the shoulder before quickly lining up at the end of the line, leaving Brenden, the 5th one of the group.
"You f*cking bastards!"