Fractured God

Two were stumbling through the darkness with middling speed. The more they walked, the more it felt possible that this place was infinite.

"Can't I turn on back the lights?"

"Are you an idiot? We were lucky we weren't caught the first time. If you wanna push your luck, go for it. As for me, I'll stay far enough in the darkness so I can watch you fight a horde of kobolds. Wait, now that I think about it, that sounds like good entertainment."

"Tch," Tibaut responded annoyed.

While the darkness was annoying, it was oddly nostalgic. Within an instance, his mind was transported back to his previous life.

The room was dark as always.

For someone like him, the room was cleaner than usual. The things scattered about were three to four soda bottles on the ground. He used to be a slob and let clothes, bottles and dust litter his apartment but recently was starting to break that habit.

He sat as he usually did at his monitor, playing some game from five years ago that most people had stopped talking about long ago.

But he didn't mind. He had all the time in the world. He played whatever he wanted, watched whatever or read whatever he wanted. He had no job, he had left university and decided that getting a higher degree than a bachelor's would be a pain in the ass, so didn't have to worry about work of any kind.

He had a few friends here and there but it had been months since he had played an online game with them and over a year since he had seen any of them in real life. They all had jobs now couldn't play together as frequently as they did in high school.

One might think his existence was lonely however contrary to what one might believe he was satisfied with life. He had enough money that rent wouldn't be a problem even if he lived past one hundred.

He could enjoy the media he wanted without a single worry such as studying or being called to cover someone else's shift. It was his own personal slice of heaven.

It was funny, he obtained all of this just by losing two things. How many people in the world would give up those two things to obtain this heaven? He soon got up from his chair to stretch after finishing watching the end credits of the game.

He was in a simple t-shirt and sweatpants combo synonymous with all NEETs around the globe. As he was walking towards his fridge he heard a knock on his door. While this wasn't an uncommon occurrence the person at the door was. It was his brother.

"What's up, Miguel?" The man in the heart-wrenchingly expensive suit asked.

"Oh, finally gonna take the shares off my hand?"

"Those harpys haven't asked me to do anything about that yet. 'Sides would I be like this if I came here for that?" He said while pointing to the smile on his face.

The man decided to let himself into the apartment. The space wasn't small but considering the money Miguel had it could have been bigger. The suited man began inspecting the apartment. He had a look of surprise on his face.

"I never thought she of all people would be the one to whip you into shape."

"Tch, I just don't like people coming here when it looks like shit. She shows up whenever she wants, so I gotta keep the place okay looking so I'm not caught off guard. That's all."

The man in the suit snorted.

"Yeah, sure. She isn't that special but I suppose if you hook her in she would be your first girlfriend."

"If you wanted to shit talk Louise you can do that for free anywhere else. Besides I'm pretty she only comes here for the air conditioning. Also don't forget you're the one that sicced her on me."

The suited man waved one of his hands and let out a bunch of whatevers. He turned on the light from a nearby switch, sat down on a couch in the apartment and invited Miguel over.

"So, like, I know mom and da-" but before he could finish Miguel interrupted him.

"How many do you have to tell you? I'm fine. I'm not depressed or anything."

The man in the suit had an unconvinced expression.

"Are you though? Look at how you live."

Miguel was visibly irritated by this statement. He clicked his tongue and responded "If anything you're the weird one. If most people got the kinda money we did randomly one day I'd bet everything I own that they would live like me."

Mr. Suit looked unsatisfied by his answer but decided to leave it there and not dampen the mood any more than he should.

He looked at the floor and saw a controller on the ground. He looked in front of him and saw a last-gen console under the TV stand. He was curious so took a quick look in Miguel's room. He soon came back.

"Man, it's such a good use of money to buy two of the same consoles."

"Shut up, the one under the TV is the pro version. Plus you're not one to talk, how much did that suit cost anyway?"

"..."

His brother stood and decided to look through a pile of games on a nearby table.

"Found it." He said before lifting up a game case and showing it to Tiba-, no Miguel.

"Let's play some Carnival."

It was a crossover fighting game from a bunch of series that haven't had new entries in the past five years.

Miguel looked intrigued by the proposition.

("I don't think I've ever beaten him in carnival before but this is a newer one than the one we played when we were younger, plus he hasn't touched a console in years. I got this in the bag.")

With a smug attitude, he responded

"Alright old man, let's see what you got."

They both picked up a controller and booted up the game.

On this day Miguel learned a very important lesson. Humility.

"What the hell, I didn't even know he could do that in this game!"

"You're a hundred years too early to be challenging me in Carnival!!!"

Tibaut's reminiscing was cut short by Ezekiel tapping him on his shoulder.