My eyes stayed on the Guardian worm but moved to the top of my vision quickly, I had to check just to—
[Incubation Period: 2 days 1 hours 48 minutes.]
Over two hours had passed since I left the chamber?
I felt a bit foolish, hell the worm hadn’t even surfaced when it had to— if it had, then my fight against the Guardian Queen of Crystal would have been messy, and mostly dangerous—very dangerous, but at the same time part of me simply wondered. Would the Queen have died if I had assistance from the other Guardian? Part of me was deeply inclined to say, yes, it would have, the other part simply thought I would’ve been forced to run away from the might of both guardians.
Briefly overlooking the area I was in, it was nothing but ice—sculptures of beauty, freaky of multiple limbs, unmoving—frozen in time. All the ants that had been surrounding me had died, and in the distance the worm slithered at high speeds towards me. I felt the arrow between my fingers and pulled the string, my mana passed through my hand and onto the bow, and the other pushed mana onto the arrow. I had to be better at managing my mana from now on. The arrow was fired as the worm paused, it poked its blue crystal through its mouth laced with serrated teeth. It tried to— attack the arrow? The luminescent projectile exploded onto its mouth and the worm shrieked, a squeal of pain resounded its back rattled in uneven sounds as it wiggled in its place.
What?
In spite of my confusion I wasted no time repeating the process; nocking, pushing mana, and firing— the arrow shot as the wind broke, the verdant projectile reached the sides of the worm and exploded on impact, ice broke from its body in a myriad of mistful glitter. Blood pooled from the worm, taking the chance to rapidly drink a mana potion and prepared another shot.
I fired, but at the moment the worm was about to be hit, it shrieked. Pores opened along its glittering body and ice spikes appeared, and with it a storm of ice came. One that exploded the arrow prematurely, unable to reach the worm. But it didn't stop there, it carried on and headed for me, the storm shone under the cave-light in a strangely blue color—it was full of mana. I quickly slid away feeling the danger before Penumbral Sense could even do something about it, simultaneously a familiar notification resounded.
[Guardian King of Rime requests assistance.]
I inwardly rolled my eyes. Wow, who would’ve thought that the Guardian would request assistance, I certainly did not see that one coming. I snorted as I placed another arrow on my bow, and pulled the string, once more injecting the arrow with mana, but this time only focusing on the tip. To dig? Given that the worm wasn’t doing anything, I took my chance to play around with my mana much more—small spikes, to cut, but from both sides—like the knife. I angled the spikes in my mind and the tip, or rather the edges of the arrow began to shine in green, and only a minute amount of mana filled the arrow. It felt just right, perfect even.
With a smile, I fired the arrow, the new type of arrow that was born from small bouts of experimentation across multiple days. The worm finally trembled as the blood beneath it froze, and its body was filled with layers of ice as makeshift armor, and at that moment, the arrow struck the new armor panel. It hit and barely pierced, only the arrow-head going in, but unexpectedly— the arrow twitched and dug into the worm. It was as if it had gained sudden strength, but— it was erratic and aimless. The worm squirmed in place, shrieks of pain filled the cave.
What was that? Two notifications reached me as if it was an explanation. Knowledge of a new skill too surfaced in my mind, it was similar to what I had just done but slightly different.
[You have experienced a Revelation.]
[Skill Learned — Burrowing Shot (Rare) — Enhances the arrow giving it burrowing capabilities, it will continue to burrow until it runs out of mana. Small perception and accuracy bonus based on your agility.]
That certainly didn’t sound like piercing shot. I felt rewarded, but it was weird. Did I really deserve a rare rank skill for this? A revelation? I nocked an arrow, preparing Explosive Shot as the Guardian seemed to be in immense pain, mana filled its body and the notification of assistance resounded every second. I snorted, that’s right— it wasn’t dead yet. The mana filled my body and I nocked two more arrows of the same kind; the burrowing kind— and shot. They dug into the worm, breaking its insides and out. But I still felt doubtful about the fact that I had learnt such a skill.
[Well, given the worm guardian is having a bit of a stomach ache…] Glim began as the worm squealed. [You would have learnt piercing shot simply by enhancing your arrow with sharpness enough times, you were pretty close actually, but instead you were hellbent on discovering what you deemed to be piercing shot. And through various methods of experimentation you finally discovered the correct one? Sort of? Revelations are bursts of inspiration, er— well if you’re close enough to a skill The System might just give it to you in a revelation.]
I fired the arrow as a frown spread through my face, it sounded like bullshit to me, was that something I deserved? The arrow exploded on the guardian as its body revolted and became progressively more bloody. I drank another mana potion as I pondered over things while simultaneously continuing to fire at the worm.
Revelation? “Do I deserve that?”
[Well, sort of?] Glim doubted. [Lots of things I can’t disclose, but huh— oh, oh! I am allowed to say this. Remember your friend, Matt?]
“Is he even close to a friend?”
Glim ignored and continued. [He’s had one of those too, given you two were at a party I am allowed to disclose this. Er, if Matt had an SGA he too would be able to know things about you. So be thankful! I am amazing, aren’t I?]
“Yes, Glim.” I ignored Glim any further. I nocked an arrow and played with the skill, it felt different. It was the same kind of instinctual feeling, but it told me to split the mana at the tip into three parts and circulate it around the tip, making it go from front to back in a loop of spikes— it was similar to the knife, but slightly different. Huh. I fired the arrow into the worm. The skill of course was relatively easy to use thanks to assistance, and the mana usage was nowhere near as demanding as Explosive Shot.
What would have been a hard fight against the worm had now turned into a waiting game. I stared at the writhing mass in the distance, and sighed. I pulled the enhanced string and fired.
It was going to take a while, but the worm could do nothing regarding this attack.
Just as I resigned to the fact that the fight was not even a fight, something strange happened. The worm’s rattles reached my ear, but they were like whispers.
“IcEEEEE AgEEEEEE!”
With a mighty hiss, my alarms rang all around and I jumped and slid back at an awkward angle. In a split second, everything happened. The worm shone in a pale light that exploded into a blizzard of frost, everything turned to frost, the worms and ants alike, the entire cave was covered in icy mist and the mana crystals on the walls shone like backlights amidst a storm. The cave behind the worm had become nothing more than a solid ice wall too. The landscape of the cave changed to snow, and a blizzard raged in the distance as I saw a pale blue light stare at me.
I felt a shiver go down my spine as I looked at its name.
[Guardian Monarch of Rime. Lvl. 26]
I was trapped with it. It seemed common for guardians to have two phases, and it also seemed awfully common for them to evolve mid battle. But even though I reasoned all that, it felt unfair…
◇ ◇ ◇
What followed was a lot of sliding and a lot of explosive arrows and rocks to get me away from the monstrosity that was the rime worm, even though I had managed to hurt it a few times it was ineffective. It had evolved, or seemingly evolved, its entire body became an armor of ice and it blasted—froze the air itself with mist. I drank another health potion as I dodged ice spikes, my breathing was rushed and my lips were bleeding from the dryness. The worm had blocked my safe-space with corpses and ice. The other entrance where the worm had come from had also been blocked off and I couldn’t even break through it with Explosive Shots, I couldn’t escape no matter what I tried. I was trapped.
“Explain to me why the fuck can it evolve in battle?”
[I don’t know!] Glim pleaded for the millionth time. [How am I supposed to know that a stupid worm writhing in agony is having a revelation about its Prophecy? Wouldn’t it also be due to The System? Besides, wasn’t it almost dead?]
“You can do that?” I cursed as I slid away. The entire cave had become devoid of life, but the crystal on the ceiling remained untouched.
[That’s how Prophecies work?! Of course you’ll have some inspiration every now and then about developing it! But it's a damn worm! It was just System Assistance, you know—the thing it kept requesting?]
I snorted. “So can I request assistance?”
[No, that is only for guardians and it tends to be rather limited to mana increases. But, see, Blair— The System right now must have thought this encounter would make you much stronger if the Guardian too was stronger, so it helped out a lot! Remember when I told you you were important to The System? Well this is it! You should grow stronger if you kill it, much stronger than before! This is the importance I meant! Never before opportunities! Burrowing Shot was assistance! This is assistance!]
I panted dodging once more. “This assistance is stupid.”
[Well, maybe you shouldn’t have toyed with the Guardian?!]
I didn’t even mean to toy, I inwardly protested as I slid over the corpse of an ant, the entire room was a warzone. I had been dodging ice stuff for so long, and I had almost no potions left. I was beginning to feel desperate, hopeless even, my body ached with cold and my skin had begun to peel in some places. How long had passed? I needed a Prophecy somehow. When was the Selection Process going to begin? Would I be able to get a Prophecy underground? I glanced at the time amidst my panic.
[Incubation Period: 2 days 0 hours 9 minutes.]
My mind rushed, as I tried to counter-attack at the Guardian but it simply dodged, it had dodged every single arrow that I had used, it had suddenly become much faster than before. If I couldn’t get a Prophecy what could I do? I darted recalling all my memories and then remembered the mana crystal. I had thought about it a few times, every time it seemed more appealing, and this time around— even if it was supposed to be an emergency last resort thing, it was my last resort. My bag was frozen to bits but its contents seemed okay as I simply felt them bounce around.
If I use the E-rank Mana Crystal— I might get a chance to kill the worm. But it wasn’t the time yet. I waited with bated breaths as I dodged and moved about. But I realized something as I dodged and slid across the ice. The breaths of the worm kept missing, its spikes were redundant and some deviated.
Was it growing weaker?
I moved out of the way as it blasted an ice breath that turned into a frosty wall. It threw spikes to the other side, and I slid before realizing. I was surrounded by ice— the cave had turned into a frosty labyrinth and the worm rattled with glee. I quickly shuffled for my bag and broke open the zipper as the worm continued its rattle that became another whisper in my ears. I reached for the crystal, I didn’t have a choice. I had to gamble. It was at least going to be seriously injured after this.
The worm seemingly laughed.
I pulled the mana crystal ready to blast it away. I pushed my mana as the transparent flares of red turned muddled into a green—I could feel it destabilizing, just a bit more—
A notification went off in my brain.
[Incubation Period: 1 days 23 hours 59 minutes.]
[The Selection Process begins. The stars have begun making their judgment picking Champions to carry the torch. Some judgements have been made, others remain in the open. Show your worth.]
[The stars have already cast judgement over you, entity: ??? (Blair). Selection has been decided, and a star has extended their touch. You have been selected to become a Champion for a distant star. An open invitation is offered for negotiations. Accepting this invitation will teleport you to the star.]
Accept! I stopped channeling mana through the crystal, and worried for my life but it seemed stable. The worm shrieked and I tried to slide, but it was too late. The ice came, my whole vision was dyed white as the ice enveloped me. First was my leg, then both, torso then body and face. Pain. Chatter. Frost spread through my body and I felt my life drain away from me, blistering pain, and then nothingness. I lost all sense of feeling as it was eaten by the cold. I saw nothing but black. I had agreed to the invitation or so I thought, but pain was everywhere and nowhere.
Everything was gone. Just as fast as it came.
Glim had turned into a blur in my mind, and at that moment I felt nothing.
A shroud of darkness.
Had I… died? Hadn’t I accepted to be teleported?
I died… I tried pushing mana onto the necklace I had gotten, but nothing happened.
It seemed that I had. Died.
“Oh, quite the appearance you got for an invitation? And to believe I invested so much to even be able to get a chance at inviting you…” A grim voice spoke.
Vision returned, and I was in a red room. I felt something soft on the ground, the light filtered through nearby glass and at the center I saw a table with an armored man sitting behind. He had a hat, a monocle, and a full armor of spikes and hatred, lines of distinct colors filled its body as it stared at me. My body felt cold and I could feel the ice on my limbs, I could hardly breathe and I was bleeding in more places than one. I was tired and hurt, but I still tried to make sense of things.
[C̸̫̜͑͠o̴̩̍͜r̴̼̽r̷̻̖͑̎ǔ̷̧͙p̵̘͊t̷̙͊̂e̴͈͙͐d̸͗ͅ. Lvl. ???]
And then its level switched, as if what I had just seen was nothing more than an illusion.
[The Slayer Of Stars. Lvl. 143]
I tried to stay awake as everything within my vision became red. But I couldn’t. The Guardian of Rime was too much, I had taken a direct hit from the worm. And the person in front of me emanated danger. To die at the hands of someone over level 100? I smiled at myself accepting defeat. The danger of Penumbral Sense was ever present.
That’s right.
I was supposed to be a champion for them, right? That’s what the prompt said, right?
How could I become a champion if I don’t even meet the bare minimum?
Ha. Ha.
Everything turned to black.
My eyes stayed on the Guardian worm but moved to the top of my vision quickly, I had to check just to—
[Incubation Period: 2 days 1 hours 48 minutes.]
Over two hours had passed since I left the chamber?
I felt a bit foolish, hell the worm hadn’t even surfaced when it had to— if it had, then my fight against the Guardian Queen of Crystal would have been messy, and mostly dangerous—very dangerous, but at the same time part of me simply wondered. Would the Queen have died if I had assistance from the other Guardian? Part of me was deeply inclined to say, yes, it would have, the other part simply thought I would’ve been forced to run away from the might of both guardians.
Briefly overlooking the area I was in, it was nothing but ice—sculptures of beauty, freaky of multiple limbs, unmoving—frozen in time. All the ants that had been surrounding me had died, and in the distance the worm slithered at high speeds towards me. I felt the arrow between my fingers and pulled the string, my mana passed through my hand and onto the bow, and the other pushed mana onto the arrow. I had to be better at managing my mana from now on. The arrow was fired as the worm paused, it poked its blue crystal through its mouth laced with serrated teeth. It tried to— attack the arrow? The luminescent projectile exploded onto its mouth and the worm shrieked, a squeal of pain resounded its back rattled in uneven sounds as it wiggled in its place.
What?
In spite of my confusion I wasted no time repeating the process; nocking, pushing mana, and firing— the arrow shot as the wind broke, the verdant projectile reached the sides of the worm and exploded on impact, ice broke from its body in a myriad of mistful glitter. Blood pooled from the worm, taking the chance to rapidly drink a mana potion and prepared another shot.
I fired, but at the moment the worm was about to be hit, it shrieked. Pores opened along its glittering body and ice spikes appeared, and with it a storm of ice came. One that exploded the arrow prematurely, unable to reach the worm. But it didn't stop there, it carried on and headed for me, the storm shone under the cave-light in a strangely blue color—it was full of mana. I quickly slid away feeling the danger before Penumbral Sense could even do something about it, simultaneously a familiar notification resounded.
[Guardian King of Rime requests assistance.]
I inwardly rolled my eyes. Wow, who would’ve thought that the Guardian would request assistance, I certainly did not see that one coming. I snorted as I placed another arrow on my bow, and pulled the string, once more injecting the arrow with mana, but this time only focusing on the tip. To dig? Given that the worm wasn’t doing anything, I took my chance to play around with my mana much more—small spikes, to cut, but from both sides—like the knife. I angled the spikes in my mind and the tip, or rather the edges of the arrow began to shine in green, and only a minute amount of mana filled the arrow. It felt just right, perfect even.
With a smile, I fired the arrow, the new type of arrow that was born from small bouts of experimentation across multiple days. The worm finally trembled as the blood beneath it froze, and its body was filled with layers of ice as makeshift armor, and at that moment, the arrow struck the new armor panel. It hit and barely pierced, only the arrow-head going in, but unexpectedly— the arrow twitched and dug into the worm. It was as if it had gained sudden strength, but— it was erratic and aimless. The worm squirmed in place, shrieks of pain filled the cave.
What was that? Two notifications reached me as if it was an explanation. Knowledge of a new skill too surfaced in my mind, it was similar to what I had just done but slightly different.
[You have experienced a Revelation.]
[Skill Learned — Burrowing Shot (Rare) — Enhances the arrow giving it burrowing capabilities, it will continue to burrow until it runs out of mana. Small perception and accuracy bonus based on your agility.]
That certainly didn’t sound like piercing shot. I felt rewarded, but it was weird. Did I really deserve a rare rank skill for this? A revelation? I nocked an arrow, preparing Explosive Shot as the Guardian seemed to be in immense pain, mana filled its body and the notification of assistance resounded every second. I snorted, that’s right— it wasn’t dead yet. The mana filled my body and I nocked two more arrows of the same kind; the burrowing kind— and shot. They dug into the worm, breaking its insides and out. But I still felt doubtful about the fact that I had learnt such a skill.
[Well, given the worm guardian is having a bit of a stomach ache…] Glim began as the worm squealed. [You would have learnt piercing shot simply by enhancing your arrow with sharpness enough times, you were pretty close actually, but instead you were hellbent on discovering what you deemed to be piercing shot. And through various methods of experimentation you finally discovered the correct one? Sort of? Revelations are bursts of inspiration, er— well if you’re close enough to a skill The System might just give it to you in a revelation.]
I fired the arrow as a frown spread through my face, it sounded like bullshit to me, was that something I deserved? The arrow exploded on the guardian as its body revolted and became progressively more bloody. I drank another mana potion as I pondered over things while simultaneously continuing to fire at the worm.
Revelation? “Do I deserve that?”
[Well, sort of?] Glim doubted. [Lots of things I can’t disclose, but huh— oh, oh! I am allowed to say this. Remember your friend, Matt?]
“Is he even close to a friend?”
Glim ignored and continued. [He’s had one of those too, given you two were at a party I am allowed to disclose this. Er, if Matt had an SGA he too would be able to know things about you. So be thankful! I am amazing, aren’t I?]
“Yes, Glim.” I ignored Glim any further. I nocked an arrow and played with the skill, it felt different. It was the same kind of instinctual feeling, but it told me to split the mana at the tip into three parts and circulate it around the tip, making it go from front to back in a loop of spikes— it was similar to the knife, but slightly different. Huh. I fired the arrow into the worm. The skill of course was relatively easy to use thanks to assistance, and the mana usage was nowhere near as demanding as Explosive Shot.
What would have been a hard fight against the worm had now turned into a waiting game. I stared at the writhing mass in the distance, and sighed. I pulled the enhanced string and fired.
It was going to take a while, but the worm could do nothing regarding this attack.
Just as I resigned to the fact that the fight was not even a fight, something strange happened. The worm’s rattles reached my ear, but they were like whispers.
“IcEEEEE AgEEEEEE!”
With a mighty hiss, my alarms rang all around and I jumped and slid back at an awkward angle. In a split second, everything happened. The worm shone in a pale light that exploded into a blizzard of frost, everything turned to frost, the worms and ants alike, the entire cave was covered in icy mist and the mana crystals on the walls shone like backlights amidst a storm. The cave behind the worm had become nothing more than a solid ice wall too. The landscape of the cave changed to snow, and a blizzard raged in the distance as I saw a pale blue light stare at me.
I felt a shiver go down my spine as I looked at its name.
[Guardian Monarch of Rime. Lvl. 26]
I was trapped with it. It seemed common for guardians to have two phases, and it also seemed awfully common for them to evolve mid battle. But even though I reasoned all that, it felt unfair…
◇ ◇ ◇
What followed was a lot of sliding and a lot of explosive arrows and rocks to get me away from the monstrosity that was the rime worm, even though I had managed to hurt it a few times it was ineffective. It had evolved, or seemingly evolved, its entire body became an armor of ice and it blasted—froze the air itself with mist. I drank another health potion as I dodged ice spikes, my breathing was rushed and my lips were bleeding from the dryness. The worm had blocked my safe-space with corpses and ice. The other entrance where the worm had come from had also been blocked off and I couldn’t even break through it with Explosive Shots, I couldn’t escape no matter what I tried. I was trapped.
“Explain to me why the fuck can it evolve in battle?”
[I don’t know!] Glim pleaded for the millionth time. [How am I supposed to know that a stupid worm writhing in agony is having a revelation about its Prophecy? Wouldn’t it also be due to The System? Besides, wasn’t it almost dead?]
“You can do that?” I cursed as I slid away. The entire cave had become devoid of life, but the crystal on the ceiling remained untouched.
[That’s how Prophecies work?! Of course you’ll have some inspiration every now and then about developing it! But it's a damn worm! It was just System Assistance, you know—the thing it kept requesting?]
I snorted. “So can I request assistance?”
[No, that is only for guardians and it tends to be rather limited to mana increases. But, see, Blair— The System right now must have thought this encounter would make you much stronger if the Guardian too was stronger, so it helped out a lot! Remember when I told you you were important to The System? Well this is it! You should grow stronger if you kill it, much stronger than before! This is the importance I meant! Never before opportunities! Burrowing Shot was assistance! This is assistance!]
I panted dodging once more. “This assistance is stupid.”
[Well, maybe you shouldn’t have toyed with the Guardian?!]
I didn’t even mean to toy, I inwardly protested as I slid over the corpse of an ant, the entire room was a warzone. I had been dodging ice stuff for so long, and I had almost no potions left. I was beginning to feel desperate, hopeless even, my body ached with cold and my skin had begun to peel in some places. How long had passed? I needed a Prophecy somehow. When was the Selection Process going to begin? Would I be able to get a Prophecy underground? I glanced at the time amidst my panic.
[Incubation Period: 2 days 0 hours 9 minutes.]
My mind rushed, as I tried to counter-attack at the Guardian but it simply dodged, it had dodged every single arrow that I had used, it had suddenly become much faster than before. If I couldn’t get a Prophecy what could I do? I darted recalling all my memories and then remembered the mana crystal. I had thought about it a few times, every time it seemed more appealing, and this time around— even if it was supposed to be an emergency last resort thing, it was my last resort. My bag was frozen to bits but its contents seemed okay as I simply felt them bounce around.
If I use the E-rank Mana Crystal— I might get a chance to kill the worm. But it wasn’t the time yet. I waited with bated breaths as I dodged and moved about. But I realized something as I dodged and slid across the ice. The breaths of the worm kept missing, its spikes were redundant and some deviated.
Was it growing weaker?
I moved out of the way as it blasted an ice breath that turned into a frosty wall. It threw spikes to the other side, and I slid before realizing. I was surrounded by ice— the cave had turned into a frosty labyrinth and the worm rattled with glee. I quickly shuffled for my bag and broke open the zipper as the worm continued its rattle that became another whisper in my ears. I reached for the crystal, I didn’t have a choice. I had to gamble. It was at least going to be seriously injured after this.
The worm seemingly laughed.
I pulled the mana crystal ready to blast it away. I pushed my mana as the transparent flares of red turned muddled into a green—I could feel it destabilizing, just a bit more—
A notification went off in my brain.
[Incubation Period: 1 days 23 hours 59 minutes.]
[The Selection Process begins. The stars have begun making their judgment picking Champions to carry the torch. Some judgements have been made, others remain in the open. Show your worth.]
[The stars have already cast judgement over you, entity: ??? (Blair). Selection has been decided, and a star has extended their touch. You have been selected to become a Champion for a distant star. An open invitation is offered for negotiations. Accepting this invitation will teleport you to the star.]
Accept! I stopped channeling mana through the crystal, and worried for my life but it seemed stable. The worm shrieked and I tried to slide, but it was too late. The ice came, my whole vision was dyed white as the ice enveloped me. First was my leg, then both, torso then body and face. Pain. Chatter. Frost spread through my body and I felt my life drain away from me, blistering pain, and then nothingness. I lost all sense of feeling as it was eaten by the cold. I saw nothing but black. I had agreed to the invitation or so I thought, but pain was everywhere and nowhere.
Everything was gone. Just as fast as it came.
Glim had turned into a blur in my mind, and at that moment I felt nothing.
A shroud of darkness.
Had I… died? Hadn’t I accepted to be teleported?
I died… I tried pushing mana onto the necklace I had gotten, but nothing happened.
It seemed that I had. Died.
“Oh, quite the appearance you got for an invitation? And to believe I invested so much to even be able to get a chance at inviting you…” A grim voice spoke.
Vision returned, and I was in a red room. I felt something soft on the ground, the light filtered through nearby glass and at the center I saw a table with an armored man sitting behind. He had a hat, a monocle, and a full armor of spikes and hatred, lines of distinct colors filled its body as it stared at me. My body felt cold and I could feel the ice on my limbs, I could hardly breathe and I was bleeding in more places than one. I was tired and hurt, but I still tried to make sense of things.
[C̸̫̜͑͠o̴̩̍͜r̴̼̽r̷̻̖͑̎ǔ̷̧͙p̵̘͊t̷̙͊̂e̴͈͙͐d̸͗ͅ. Lvl. ???]
And then its level switched, as if what I had just seen was nothing more than an illusion.
[The Slayer Of Stars. Lvl. 143]
I tried to stay awake as everything within my vision became red. But I couldn’t. The Guardian of Rime was too much, I had taken a direct hit from the worm. And the person in front of me emanated danger. To die at the hands of someone over level 100? I smiled at myself accepting defeat. The danger of Penumbral Sense was ever present.
That’s right.
I was supposed to be a champion for them, right? That’s what the prompt said, right?
How could I become a champion if I don’t even meet the bare minimum?
Ha. Ha.
Everything turned to black.
