The rain whispered against the windowpane, soft but restless. Inside his dimly-lit room, Raka sat hunched in front of his aging PC, the glow of the monitor reflecting in his tired eyes. His headset dangled around his neck, forgotten, as the familiar Lost Saga launcher flickered on the screen.
Why am I even opening this again? he thought. The servers had shut down years ago. No friends online, no matches to queue. Just... silence.
But tonight felt different.
As he hovered over the "Login" button, something odd happened. The screen glitched — once, then again. Then a message appeared, floating on the center of the interface:
> [You've been chosen.]
[Legacy Tournament: One Last Battle Awaits.]
[Click to enter.]
Raka frowned. "Is this… a mod? Some fanmade revival?"
Against better judgment, he clicked.
The screen turned white.
No loading bar. No confirmation. Just silence.
Then, it felt like his chair vanished from under him. The ground disappeared, and his body was falling — not metaphorically, but literally. Wind roared in his ears. He screamed, reaching for anything to grab, but there was only white light surrounding him.
Suddenly—impact.
His back slammed into solid ground.
Clang!
Raka groaned, rolling over. But the floor beneath him wasn't hardwood — it was rough, cracked stone. When he looked up, the sky was a deep twilight purple, with floating ruins and pixelated flags waving in the wind.
He sat up slowly.
His clothes were gone — replaced with steel-plated armor and a giant sword strapped to his back. A glowing HUD floated in front of his eyes:
> [Hero Equipped: Classic Swordsman]
[Rank: Bronze]
[Current Location: Training Arena (Ruins Mode)]
[Respawn: OFFLINE]
"What the hell…"
"Newbie, huh?"
Raka spun around.
Leaning casually against a cracked statue was a player wearing a jester-like mask, his eyes sharp and unreadable. He tossed a dagger in the air like it was a toy.
"Welcome to the bugged version of Lost Saga," the stranger said. "Name's Iqiww. You're not dreaming, and yeah—if you die here, it hurts."
Raka opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Iqiww sighed and stood upright. "C'mon, hero boy. If you're gonna survive here, you'll need more than just a sword and confusion."
A deep rumble echoed in the distance.
Monsters.
"Lesson one," Iqiww grinned, drawing a second blade. "Run."