The Void!

Invitation Of The Goddess

In the suffocating battlefield, where an inevitable fight was bound to happen between two men. I, a prisoner carrying the burden of sin and shackles, confronted the enemy, a proud general with his famous axe in hand.

We rushed towards each other, life or death, while the clacking from the keyboard and the sound of mouse clicks, along with the cursing of kids lagging at the internet cafe, continued to echo.

Yes, you guessed it right, I was playing a game, and the battle mentioned was a one-on-one solo fight with the enemy across the frontline, an age-old matchup.

A few minutes later, with the thick-headedness of an experienced and skillful long-time player, I... lost the match in frustration.

"Damn, I told you to ban Yasuo already, if he feeds seventeen kills, who can carry this?"

I angrily turned to my friend sitting next to me.

He sighed, took off his headphones, placed them next to the keyboard, logged out of his internet cafe member account, picked up his backpack, and patted my shoulder.

"Come on, it's time, we should go or we'll be late."

"I've told you so many times, if you don't ban Yasuo when playing rank, now I'm about to drop to rank A."

I sighed, turned off the computer, threw my backpack over the handlebars of my bicycle, and rode off with him.

I am Sebastian Robbins, attending a high school in the same village, with a strong passion for video games, movies, and Paradise culture, where people often call someone like me a weeaboo.

I'm currently living with my grandparents, who own a woodshop in this region, always hoping I would take over the family's woodshop because I'm an only child and partly because I showed them my creative talent when I was young. However, I have a different, much more interesting desire than managing a woodshop in this remote countryside.

Right next to me is my lifelong close friend, Simon Nichols, a man of few words but extremely kind-hearted. Notably handsome and wealthy, he always carries a guitar in a black case but never seems to use it. 

Thanks to his charm and seemingly bottomless pockets, he is always chased by the girls at school. He constantly wears a strange watch all year round, and some schoolmates have rumored that he is undergoing an internship for a company and will become a Void Keeper after graduation. But anyway, that's just a rumor, there's no way someone as clueless as him could become a Void Keeper.

Void Keeper, arguably the king of all professions, is not a job just anyone can do, with an undisclosed salary but judging from the famous Void Keepers in the media, their quality of life is comparable to millionaires or even billionaires, you can imagine how large their income is. 

However, the high salary always comes with high risks, especially when facing a global disaster and potentially losing one's life at any moment. If a fool who doesn't know to ban Yasuo - a character in an electronic game that only fools choose to ruin the game - becomes a Void Keeper, then society would be in chaos.

We stopped the car in front of the school gate, a bit late but it didn't matter because today is the last day of our student lives, our high school graduation ceremony.

And today is an important day for me, not because of the graduation ceremony but because of something else that is about to happen which I have planned.

I sat on a red plastic chair during the flag salute before the graduation ceremony ended, unconsciously looking at the sacred red and gold star flag in the schoolyard that I would no longer see every Monday morning.

"Hey Sebastian, what are you thinking about?" Simon suddenly started a conversation.

"Me? Hmm... I don't know, just like, you know, sleeping for eight hours, it's long but once you close your eyes and wake up, it's already morning. Our student life is also like that."

"You've lived with your grandparents for so long you're starting to sound like an old man, dude."

"Graduated now, do you plan to go to university or work?"

Simon scratched his head hesitantly and answered vaguely.

"Probably work, what about you?"

"With your looks, you could probably be invited to become a model or a social media idol, as for me, I'm still clueless about what to do."

As kind as ever, he patted my shoulder to encourage me.

"You'll find the goal of your life eventually!"

Sure enough, just as he mentioned it, the goal of my life also appeared.

Her name is Madeline Young, a student who transferred from the city to this quiet countryside. The urbanite's understanding combined with her charming appearance quickly made her the center of attention among the boys in our grade. Besides, she also owns a social media account with over a million followers. That's none other than the person I've secretly admired for so long.

Just as I was deeply lost in my fantasies about our future wedding, I was snapped back to reality by a thump on the head from Simon.

"Stop daydreaming and lusting, you weeaboo, aren't you supposed to confess to Madeline today?"

"Yeah, but what if she rejects me? Then I'll become the laughing stock of the entire school, and the lower grades will pass down the legacy of Sebastian Robbins, the weeaboo loser who confessed to the school's beauty."

"Come on, be confident. Your grades are always at the top of the school, how can you call yourself a loser? Even though you are a real loser... just go confess quickly, and I'll treat you to some grilled eggs to comfort you."

"Damn, you're already cursing me."

While Simon and I were still bustling with each other, Madeline had approached us without notice, and with the boost of courage from my best friend, I approached Madeline and stammered.

"Sebastian, is something wrong?"

This isn't good, face to face with my crush like this, my heart is all over the place, how can I stay calm? Suddenly at this moment, I develop selective mutism, who else to blame but my parents for not giving me a face that could easily talk to girls like Simon... Wait, hold on, did she just call my name? How in the world does my crush, who has never spoken to me before, know my name?

"You know me?", I managed to reply calmly.

"Of course, you're rumored to be the smartest person in the school."

Oh, thank the heavens, thank my parents for giving birth to me with such a bright and brilliant mind, even my crush knows my name, what bliss.

It seems my impression in my crush's eyes is pretty good, alright then, let's go for it.

"M... Madeline... this Saturday... this Saturday..."

Before my useless mouth could finish speaking, Madeline surprisingly interrupted with a request.

"Could you take pictures for me this Saturday?"

"Oh, I knew you would reject me..."

Wait, hold on... what just happened???

I look around in bewilderment, and the boys are no different, looking at me with eyes full of surprise, Simon too, staring wide-eyed at us.

Didn't my crush just confess to me? Am I dreaming or what?

The unexpected request left me speechless as if a cat got my tongue, and seeing this, Madeline only responded with a shy smile.

"Then, nine o'clock in the morning at the city park, okay? Don't be late!"

After saying that, she left, leaving me standing there petrified with a heart in turmoil.

"Blushingly watching her walk away, I stand frozen in the rain~", the currently trending song playing from Simon's phone brought me back down to earth.

"Hey bro, you look so out of this world, you know?"

Until he saw my vile, satisfied expression, he frowned and clicked his tongue.

"Tsk, tsk, this is bad."

"Do you see it now, Simon? Do you see it?", I grabbed Simon's collar and shook him continuously like I was having a seizure.

"What the hell are you talking about, you lunatic???"

"My era has arrived, muahahahaha!", I laughed maniacally, causing the girls around to shun me with contemptuous looks.

"Wake up, you fool. Do you think it's that easy? Suddenly, the school beauty invites you on a date, don't you find that odd?"

Simon firmly held my arms to calm me down, which annoyed me due to his untimely seriousness.

"What's wrong with you? You should be happy for me, you idiot."

"I'm just a bit skeptical, suddenly inviting you out of nowhere while there are so many others in school?"

By then, I couldn't think much beyond my crush, coldly shrugged off my best friend's hand, and responded.

"The only weird one here is you, Simon. Are you just jealous of me?"

"Jealous? Jealous of what?"

"Why suddenly doubt a girl out of nowhere? You're usually so quiet, you fool."

"I'm just worried about you, you simp!"

So, we argued with each other, ending up going our separate ways without any video game sessions or our usual snack time. It's a bit sad to argue with a close friend, but his doubting my crush was unacceptable. To top it off, he even blocked my account when I got home, truly infuriating. With that, our brotherhood ends here.

Instead of thinking about that traitor, I eagerly prepared everything and the schedule to date my crush this Saturday. After that, I will confess, and she will accept me. We will spend our university years together and get married, have a few kids, and become a happy family. Just thinking about it feels wonderful.