Cyclothymia 1 (Game, Set, Start)

Another story up for the bat, this one was commissioned by Jayokuboutenjin. Hope y’all like it. Will write a Chat chapter today as well.

P.O.V (Oliver Lamphier)

He dodged out of the way of a customer who was too excited in their need to get where they wanted to go. It was a rather regular occurrence since most people were too preoccupied with their vacations. That did not mean it was any less annoying having to deal with their nonsense and not voice his complaints.

Really was it so hard to say sorry when you almost collide with someone? He let out a sigh and got back to his task at hand. He was just being moody as most people were polite but there were always assholes like that.

If he wanted to not deal with the populace he should have stuck with his dreams of making video games instead of settling for a dead-end job. Sure, he was good at what he did and the work itself was not that complicated but the customer base really could be draining.

He worked as one of the luggage handlers at a high-end hotel in Niagara Falls. Not exactly something that requires strenuous physical labor and nothing mentally straining either. As long as he kept to himself and wore a polite mask the guests were more than fine with ignoring him.

The work was easy and the pay was good enough to indulge in all of his hobbies. It was not like he had any vices that drained his funds. Genshin had taught him how badly he could fall into the gambling mentality. Fucking, 10 Razors in a row…HE COULD MAX OUT THE CONSTELATIONS ON THAT GUY TWICE! 

It’s not a big deal, he was calm. He was calm. He took a deep breath to enforce that thought but gambling really did not do him any good.

He drank but only at social gatherings and even that was getting lower as most of his friends were not the party-going type. Although, D&D games could get a bit rowdy.

Drug use was a non-issue as he saw what it did to people and well it would take away from his limited funds. Okay, he might have said he had no vices but he did spend the majority of his money on his collection.

Books, Manga, Anime, Games, and all that fell between were his bread and butter. He had limited edition copies and signed editions of almost all of his favorite media. Hell, he collected some stuff strictly for adding to his collection. Did he think Yosuga No Sora was a masterpiece that explored the depths of human desire? Gods no, but he still had the complete Manga set, and the game located right on his shelf.

Strictly speaking his collection kind of spiraled out of control and half the time he had no idea why he bought something but he was fine with that. As long as the true gems of his collection were able to shine like his first edition collection of the Harry Potter books.

The smug grin dancing across his face faded as he was startled with an arm suddenly being slung across his shoulder. After that brief moment of shock, he let out a sigh as his friend once again chose to jumpscare him even if it was not his intention.

“Hey, I can recognize that smile anywhere. You got a new Manga you want to add to your hoard?” Charlie asked playfully as he leaned into the one-arm hug. 

Oliver shrugged off the hug and poked Charlie in the side to get him to back off. Charlie winced but complied with giving him space.

“Alright chill, why do you always have to hit my ribs?” Charlie asked with a wince as he rubbed his side. Oliver rolled his eyes and gave his friend a flat look.

“Why do you always have to come out of nowhere? Are you hiding from Chuthulu or something?” Oliver shot back as he looked over his friend with a smirk on his face.

Charlie was his closest friend and someone who shared almost all the same interests. Even if the guy likes Chinese novels too much. He had to listen to rants about shitty young masters who can’t recognize Mount Tai for a lifetime.

If Oliver was going to be honest he was kind of jealous in regards to Charlie. Charlie had long blonde hair and blue eyes that drew him plenty of attention from the ladies. He was also tall even if a stiff breeze looked like it could take him out. Honestly, that sort of rail-thin body was popular and that was something Oliver was envious of.

He was not exactly ugly but he hit the average mark ten out of ten times. Average height, average hair, and average looks sometimes he thought if Saiki caught sight of him he would gush about how ordinary he looked.

It was not just his looks that Oliver was envious of it was his personality. The guy just seemed to light up the room with his loud boisterous presence and witty remarks. If Charlie was not his best friend he would have followed the anime trend and asked his Riajuu friend to go explode.

“Ha, I wish. I may or may not have dumped my work on Will and ran for the hills.” Charlie spoke out with a sheepish expression on his face. Oliver gave him a flat look and sighed.

“You know he is going to kill you for this later right,” Oliver spoke out blandly as he took a step away from his friend. Will was a great guy and a friend to both of them but he absolutely hated when people did not do their own work. Which stemmed from his personal outlook on life.

“Can’t be too bad right? Will does not have a bad bone in his body?” Charlie asked as if trying to convince himself about his questions. He was right Will would not take anything too far. He would just find it annoying that Charlie dumped his work on him.

“Why did you do that anyway? You're usually pretty good about getting your share done?” Oliver asked with a frown suddenly a bit more worried about whatever was going on with Charlie.

Charlie winched and gave Oliver another sheepish smile.

“Well, there was this audition that I been meaning to go to and you know how hard it is to take time off. I’ll make it up to the big guy when I get back.” Charlie spoke out lamely for a moment. Oliver let out a sigh and a small chuckle.

Honestly, if Charlie just explained himself to Will everything would have been fine. Will was more than fine with helping a friend out when they were in need but Charlie decided to blindside him. It made some sense as most of Charlie’s decisions were spur of the moment things when certain inspiration struck him.

Whatever that was a situation between Charlie and Will. As long as things did not go too far he did not need to get involved. Charlie should be prepared for a scolding and to really make it up to Will at least.

Charlie looked at his watch and winced before turning and jogging out of the hotel.

“Nice chat but I really do got to go. See ya, Ollie!” Charlie shouted out as he made a break to his car. Oliver gave his retreating back a flat look but felt his lips twitch in amusement. It really was rather hard to take that guy seriously.

The rest of his work schedule was far less interesting but his work usually was rather boring. He thought about going over to placate Will but after he finished his work the guy went on a hike to cool down. While he could respect the guy’s dedication to his hobbies Oliver was not going to chase after him for a hike of all things.

The last time he tried he felt like his lungs were going to collapse. Will probably did not appreciate his presence either as sometimes the guy just needed some me-time.

So he made it to his way home passing by the bustling crowd that was exploring the various overpriced stores and looking at the giant body of water and the dazzling waterfall.

He used to stop every night to watch as the lights poured onto the fall and the refractions painted a beautiful sight in the night sky but he gave up on that now. Sure, it was still an amazing sight but you could only see it so many times before it got boring.

So he made a B-line towards his home. It was about a forty-minute drive out of the more touristy locations at Niargra but trying to rent anywhere closer would be pricey even if he had a roommate. Hell, his current apartment was only barely passable price-wise.

Thankfully snobby tourists tend to tip well so it was acceptable.

He opened up the door to his apartment only to be greeted with the sight of his roommate kneeling before the TV screen in some sort of bizarre mockery of a praying stance. She had lit incense wafting around her and was humming some sort of nonsense at the screen.

She had a top hat on the table in front of her surrounded by cards sprawled around the hat. Between her praying hands was a stereotypical magic wand.

With any other person, Oliver might have thought they had joined a cult but that was just Monica being Monica. The draw screen for Genshin was all the information he needed to piece together what was happening.

Finally, after her humming reached a crescendo she hit a button on her controller with her wand and watched the screen intently. The draw went through and when the animation for a five star draw came up she bolted to her feet with an amazing amount of energy. She looked like the fate of the world was going to be decided in the next moment.

As the animation went over each individual draw he could see her hopes being risen quite high before it all faded away in an instant.

“Noooooooo! My Lyney! MY BABY WHERE ARE YOU!?” She shouted out while she sunk to her knees in pure dejection. The five-star portrait of Diluc appeared on the screen dashing her hopes. Oliver felt his lips twitch and a headache building.

This was a regular occurrence with her but one of these days the neighbors are going to riot to get her to shut up. She really had no chill.

As she bemoaned fate on the ground she got back up with determination on her face so he decided to cut in.

“You know it would be better to wait for his banner to come back into rotation.” Oliver shot out idly from the side. That produced an immediate reaction as she spun around and glared at Oliver while pointing at him with her wand.

“Blasphemy! My baby will come to me no matter what banner I draw from! I just have not proven my dedication enough!” She shouted out as she walked over and poked at him with her wand. Oliver gave her a bland smile.

“That is the type of logic that led me to have ten Razors, don’t play with fate like that,” He spoke out with a wry smile as the argument was well rehearsed by this point.

“That’s because you are a filthy heretic, if you really were a true believer Mona would have come to you with her impossibly wide hips.” She announced with all the seriousness she was capable of. Which as you can imagine was not a lot.

Oliver felt his brows twitch in annoyance. When he went on his gamble-heavy Genshin draws he wanted to get Mona and he believed the nonsense coming from this girl’s mouth. She had all the characters she wanted after all but that was a misconception on his part.

She did not have all those characters because her heart of the Gacha was so strong but because she spent almost all of her paycheque on the Gacha.

“Well since I’m such a heretic you would not want the food I brought back for us.” He spoke out with a mocking smile on his face and waved the takeout box he got from the hotel. He could see that his threat hit the mark as her bravado crumbled and she twitched.

“Now, let’s not take things too far. The gods of gacha will forgive your transgressions as long as you offer up some sort of sacrifice.” She spoke out piously while giving a pointed look at his take-out container. He let out a barking laugh and gestured for her to follow along so he could serve the food for both of them.

One of the perks of working at a high-end hotel was getting fresh meals at the end of the day. Well, as long as you were nice to the kitchen staff that is.

She shuffled behind him with a happy hum completely forgetting her ritualistic Gacha for the moment. She was a bit of a foodie and she tended to spend too much money on Gacha so her food budget took a hit.

Monica was great. She was five foot nothing with all the energy that entailed and they shared tons of the same interests. She had short brown hair that was in a pixie cut and brown eyes. They used to date but they figured they made better friends after a while.

Her gremlin energy was fun when they hung out but as a romantic partner, it was baffling. They ended their relationship on an okay note and since finding a roommate was such a pain they stuck around with each other.

He honestly expected her to get a new boyfriend pretty quick but she seemed more than happy to fill her romantic needs with the digital world. Her collection of husbandos in the various Gacha Games made that clear.

Eh, they were still pretty young so it was not that much of an issue. It was not like he was one to talk. His own romantic prospects were pretty middling. His hobbies take too much of his time to put himself out there.

As they ate bizarre facts and trivia were thrown at him and he took it all with practiced ease. Which seemed to only increase the random memes she was throwing at him.

If there was ever a day where she did not assault him with the strangest memes she found he would look outside to see if pigs were flying.

“If you are going to continue drawing please don’t shout like a dying pig when you inevitably don’t get your precious baby, I need the sleep” Oliver spoke out with a wry smile on his face. Those words stopped her from her latest nonsensical reference.

Instead, she looked over at him with a small glare and she bit viciously into the drumstick in her hands.

“Begone heretic, your negative juju has tainted the aura I need to summon my baby. I’m going to have to spend the next hour chanting to get rid of it.” She spoke out mysteriously which was completely ruined by the statement itself and the sauce covering her face.

“Cool, as long as I don’t wake up to you burning a pyre with a whole chicken go crazy,” Oliver spoke out with a pointed look that had her freezing for a moment before going slightly red.

“It was just the one time! And it worked! I maxed out Zhong Li that day.” She shouted out as if her reckless spending habits were not the leading fact in her maxed-out character. Although, he was a bit jealous of her Genshin team since he played the game as well.

“One time is already too much you little gremlin,” Oliver spoke out with a teasing smile which grew as he had to dodge the food she slung at him. The embarrassment she was feeling had faded like a dream replaced with a look that screamed she wanted to tear his limbs off of him and beat him with them.

“Want to repeat that Ollie?” She asked with a smile that was far too tight. He only raised his hands in surrender and escaped to his room leaving her to clean up her mess.

She may be angry at him for commenting on her height but she was a pretty reasonable person. She made a mess so of course she was going to clean it up. It’s kind of funny how quickly he could upset her by mentioning her height but call her a gremlin and she takes it in pride.

As he entered his room he was greeted with his dear collection. The countless items are displayed proudly. Since most of the things he kept were books the majority of his collection fit in his large bookshelf. The games and movies could be kept on the shelf as well but they took up less space.

Finally, he had some figures but those were gifts from people who knew he liked Anime but did not know about his particular collecting habit. He preferred the media itself over any of the collectibles that most people collected.

Although, he did have a boob mousepad that depicted Tsunade that he purchased himself. It was an essential purchase after all.

He turned off the lights and settled into bed ignoring the chanting that had already resumed with practiced ease. Usually, he was not this tired but sleep seemed to be calling him all day so he took the first shot at nap time. He was probably going to regret not taking a shower in the morning but tomorrow was his day off so he could clean up his sheets if they smelled.

The world seemed to slip away from him as the darkness laid claim on his restful mind.

Then he was jolted awake with a surge of energy that felt like lighting itself jump-started his heart. He sprung forward with his heart pounding a mile a second and he tried to gather himself. It worked for a moment but as he got a look at his surroundings the calm beat surged again.

The bed that he fell asleep on moments ago was gone. The sheets that should have been around him disappeared like the wind. The once familiar walls that held his dear collections were replaced with an endless white void.

He would assume he was sleeping as the last thing he remembered was the darkness claiming his mind but his pounding heart argued against that. Even in his worst nightmares, he was not able to reach that sort of speed. He would awaken far quicker as his body's flight or fight instinct blared to life.

Everything might seem completely and utterly unreal but the signals his body was sending him pointed at this being his current state of affairs.

“Good for you, most mortals find themself struggling with what is happening to them when I meet them. They think it’s all a dream that will fade away when they awaken. It usually takes much longer for them to accept the truth even if they meet Me.” An amused voice spoke out behind Oliver causing the man to spin around to catch sight of the man.

Ignoring the context of his words for a moment as he looked over at the other inhabitant of this space.

An almost towering figure that had his heart stop from its pounding pace. The figure was covered in a long flowing cloak that seemed to shine like a nebula shifting dark inky colors and bright flashes of light. The hood covered its face and hid everything but a bright white crescent that was a mockery of a real smile and two purple spirals in place of eyes.

Whatever this thing was the unreal nature of it was clear right from the get-go. For a moment he could do nothing but stare at the things before him. His mind was rebelling at the notion that the thing before him was real even as his heart insisted it was.

“Oh, perhaps I have spoken too soon. Do you need a moment?” The figure asked with that pale crescent not moving an inch as it spoke. He took a deep breath as even if this was unreal he was going to treat it as real.

Facing something like this and treating it as nothing but a delusion of your mind was a bad call. Worst comes to worse he will wake up after treating a far too vivid dream as reality.

“I’m good, so is there any reason that I am here?” Oliver asked tightly his heart back to pounding again but he had to do something. The figure seemed to stare through him for a moment before a deep dark chuckle emanated from it.

“Well, that’s an even more interesting response. Whatever your motive is irrelevant to me mortal so we might as well get on with it. You are just another piece on the board and while your dreams may come true here it does not make you important.” The figure spoke out dryly not moving an inch again. Honestly, if its cloak was not billowing as it spoke he would have doubted that it was a figure at all. Instead a far too detailed painting.

Oliver was tempted to ask another question but it appeared that his presence was even not even that important here. So he was going to let the cosmic entity have its fun and hopefully, he would get out of this alive. Although, the mention of having his dreams answered did have his heartthrob in an entirely different way.

“Quite, you see I have seen this Gamer thing that has some of you so enthralled and I figured it was a little interesting, I have prepared the system and you happen to be one of those mortals who would be ecstatic at having something like this.” The figure spoke out words that once more had his heart pounding this time in excitement instead of nerves.

He wanted to ask so many questions but held his tongue with a desperate need. The figure had made it more than clear that it did not care for Oliver that much. No, the only thing that was driving this thing was its own interest. So until it wanted a response from him it was better to hold his silence.

He did not want to risk losing this shot in front of him after all. This was quite literally a chance that went beyond chance. 1 in a million would be a joke. Hell, 1 in a trillion was a joke as that was at least plausible. Being Given the Gamer ability was something that simply did not happen.

The figure shifted and suddenly instead of the towering frame above him, he was greeted with its shadowed face standing in front of him. The giant shrouded face seemed to encapsulate him as he stared right into the shadowed face.

From this distance, the jagged bright white crescent looked like a tear in space instead of a painted depiction. The slowly turning purple spirals seemed to pull something from him but was stopped by that dark chuckle that seemed to reverberate in his body.

“See, you mortals make your desires so clear. Always wanting more and more until there is nothing left. Well, I am giving you the keys to get everything you wish as long as you reach for it mortal. Sure, there might be a few issues but I am sure you would have gladly paid the price I ask of you. Because you are greedy just like any other mortal.” The figure spoke out while those spiraling eyes bored into him.

Oliver felt uncomfortable for a moment. He was not the type to sacrifice everything for power. He was a genuinely good person so to have his life pointed as nothing but a pursuit of more upset him. He wanted to reject this things gift if only to spite the being that seemed to despise him but he could not. 

It was right in a way, this was not something he could give up and that fact started to eat him up. The figure leaned back away giving him some space but laughter seemed to bubble from it.

“Oh, that is wonderful. Fine than mortal prove me wrong then? Take my gift and prove yourself through your actions or fail. Either way, I will find my amusement.” The figure spoke out with a malicious tone as a large finger that seemed to be formed by the same inky colors that formed his cloak touched Oliver.

The world seemed to blur around him again as he jolted from bed again with his heart pounding. This time he was greeted with the scene he expected. For a brief moment he thought all of that was a dream despite his heart telling him it was not but that thought died as he caught sight of the book clutched in his hands. 

The words on the book seemed to shift as the ink danced across the cover making a new sentence.

[Welcome Gamer. I hope you are ready to start.]

As soon as he finished reading those words the book swung open and a familiar purple spiral dragged him into the book.

The deep voice of the Entity blaring in his mind once more was the only thing he heard as he was dragged in.

“I hope you have fun in the tutorial little mortal.” The voice faded with a dark chuckle.