#sigh. I just think unity clerics.

[sofhtie]

as always, I am once again going insane about unity clerics,

[gimmeyoon]

Iron World: 2

✰ pairing: Yoongi x Reader

✰ au: Cyberpunk 

✰ word count: 6.4k

✰ warnings: explicit language, major angst, mentions of death and violence

✰ songs: Game Time by 3LAU and Ninja and Attack on Bangtan by BTS

✰ summary: ❝Welcome to Iron World, the latest virtual reality online game. Choose your class, join a guild, and explore the depths of this planet. As one of the first 20,000 people to explore this brave frontier, how you enjoy this immersive experience is up to you. There is so much to do and see, you’ll never want to leave.❞

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    When the creator revealed that they were trapped inside the game, Jungkook had a panic attack. It was in that moment that he knew all of this was real. That this was reality now. Normally, games were the only place he didn't worry about his anxiety. In fact, it was the idea of being a fearless superhero, a brave fighter, or a powerful warrior that first drew him to video games. Whenever he was feeling powerless, he would turn to games to cope.

    He had felt absolutely powerless those first few days after it became clear there was no way to log out of the game. He was trapped and he was certainly going to die.

    But then he had met V and V was the kind of guy that didn't let you think like that. Anytime Jungkook even had the audacity to sigh, V was right there to tell him that everything was going to be okay. And then one day V told him about the Phoenix.

    That all seemed so far away now, but at the time the Phoenix had given Jungkook hope. He was going to get them out of this game. Jungkook knew he would need help, so he trained harder, worked smarter, and got his skill level up.

     Now Bangtan was the lead group and according to Jimin, the Phoenix, who apparently is not a he but a she, was also on this level.

     It felt a bit poetic to Jungkook, that the player that gave him hope was going to be clearing this level with them. He was glad he had trained so hard.

     Sometimes Chimmy asked Jungkook if he was okay to keep fighting as hard as he did. He knew that he took a lot of damage, it was his job as a warrior, and when he looked around at his friends, friends that felt like brothers, he knew that he would keep fighting this hard until they made it out.

     So, he didn't feel nervous anymore. He felt driven. He felt like he had a purpose. He only felt nervous when his brothers fell into danger, then he worried that he hadn't done his job right. That he was letting them down.

    He was intent on not doing that today. Today, as they walked towards the castle, ready to take down the boss on this level, Jungkook knew that they would win.

    Jungkook couldn't pinpoint the exact moment when he started to get an adrenaline rush from the game. The first few times he fought, he felt scared. He knew that one wrong move could mean his death.

    But at some point, he started to get excited. He wanted to find the monsters and he wanted to test his limits doing so. He didn't think very much about death anymore. When he was fighting, he felt invincible.

    "I really hope we get to see the Phoenix in action today," Chimmy said, bringing Jungkook's attention back to the group.

    "You already saw her in action when you decided it was worth risking your life for yesterday," Agust D countered.

    "I'm just saying, it would be nice to sit back and let her do the work."

    V chuckled before wrapping an arm around Chimmy's shoulders. "Don't you do that anyways, Cleric?"

    "Down, V," Mono said. "Everyone's job is important and crucial to the team."

    Chimmy shrugged V's arm off of his shoulders, a frown on his face. "I hope you get a minor injury so that I can refuse to heal it and watch you be mildly inconvenienced."

    "I love you too, Chim."

    Chimmy rolled his eyes as he lightly punched V in the shoulder, before turning back to the group. "My point still stands. I hope the Phoenix helps us today."

    "It's not like we need it," said Agust D, a slight bite to his voice. "We're the lead group, we don't need her."

    "Despite my earlier transgression, I'm with Chimmy," V responded. "She's the best player in the game, and I'm sure Jugeum and I wouldn't mind a little help."

    "Agust D's right," Mono said. "She might be the best single player, but part of the game is teaming up and joining guilds. She seems to be the worst at that."

    "Our fearless leader has spoken," Worldwide spoke up. He always made a point to try and diffuse a situation if he sensed there was tension, and Jungkook always appreciated that about him. Neither of them liked conflict very much.

    "I'm serious," Mono continued. "There's strength in unity. We've got each other's backs; who has hers?"

    Jungkook heard the faintest of footsteps behind them, and he turned around instantly. It all happened so quickly. He pulled Jonglyo from the place between his shoulder blades as quickly as he could manage, the screams of past monsters, just faintly ringing from her blade.

    He moved as quickly as he could, but it wasn't quick enough.

    Inches away from Worldwide was an elf. He must have been tracking them and used magic to quiet his footsteps. Inches away from his brother was an elf, and the elf had a sword of fire through its abdomen.

    The elf was gone as quickly as Jungkook had registered it, a pile of ash left in its place. He and the rest of Bangtan stood silent facing the player dressed in black from head to toe. Jungkook didn't need to pull up his player specs, he knew it was the Phoenix.

    It was silent for too long. Jungkook knew he should speak up, thank the Phoenix for saving him and his guild, but he also felt like he had just had his ass handed to him and he wasn't sure how one was supposed to respond to that.

    She was the one who broke the silence. "So much for having each other's backs."

    "I-" Mono started.

    "I'm going to stop you right there," she held up her hand and moved to walk around the group.

    Jungkook had half the mind to ask how much her mask cost her, when V pushed him aside to get closer to the Phoenix.

    "Please party up with us," he started. "It would be an honor to fight with you."

     She looked him over for a moment, almost as if she was considering it, but then she turned on her heel so that she was facing the castle in the distance.

    "Down, beast lord. I work alone."

    Jungkook and the rest of the guild just watched as she walked ahead of them, leaving them behind. He wasn't sure what he expected to happen, but he hadn't imagined her turning them down so abruptly.

    "Well," Chimmy spoke up. "I guess I was right about seeing her in action."

    If you weren't so intent on getting out of this hell, you would have given up on fighting the boss today. You would let that guild go in and try their best and if they were successful, great. You would move on to the next level and go for that boss. But after watching that Elf stalk them for almost a mile, you realized you couldn't leave your escape in their hands. So instead of turning around and hoping for the best, you hoped that you would make it there quickly enough that they were too far behind to join you on the mission. If you could get the fight over fast enough you would be able to avoid them.

    You didn't need any more invites from them, and you certainly didn't need them to know anything else about you.

    It took a while to make it to the castle, the creator had situated it in a mountain which would normally be fine, but for some reason the castle was a no-teleport zone. You couldn't just use the game to show up there, you had to walk.

    You tried your hardest to ignore the little voice in your head that wondered why it was a no-teleport zone. You had been playing long enough to know that there were three possibilities.

    Firstly, at some point you were probably going to want to teleport out of the area, meaning that this boss was difficult. Or secondly, the place was booby-trapped, and you were going to trigger something that was going to make you want to teleport out of there. Or maybe it was the third option, and you were going to be trapped inside of a room with no way of escape, until the boss was beaten and in which case teleporting wouldn't be allowed. Or it was the worst option, it was a combination of these things.

    So, you tried to focus on other things.

    Once there, however, you had to consider what the creator had planned. He was a crazy son of a bitch, no doubt, but he was also purposeful. He never did anything just for the sake of it. No, he was watching the game play out, and he wanted to enjoy it. So that meant there had to be a reason for the no teleportation, and it was your job to figure out what it was so you could survive.

     None of the doors to the castle were open, which meant booby-traps were less likely. If he wanted to trick the players into setting something off, he would have left the doors open so people would run in without thinking. Of course, there was always the possibility that opening the door was the trap, but despite his insanity, the creator usually didn’t go for cheap shots like that.

    Closed doors did seem to point towards the other two options. Whatever was waiting for you on the other side of the door was going to be tough and there was a chance you were going to be locked in with it.

    As far as you could tell there was no way for you to test your theory. You would need another person to enter the room to determine if this was a cage situation, and this was impossible for two reasons. Not only did you not have anyone else with you, but to send someone in to certain death only to save your own skin, was immoral.

    So, you were going to have to take your chances. You paused a moment longer to consider the different entrance options. The front entrance seemed like the obvious choice, but maybe the creator anticipated that everyone would think this and head for one of the side doors, and so he changed the game to fit this decision-making process. Or maybe you were trying too hard to understand the mind of a crazy person, and the front entrance really was the wrong choice.

     "J-Hope, wait!"

     You could only sigh in response as you realized that by being careful, you had also lost the lead you had on the guild. Now you were going to have to fight with them. You just hoped they were as good as they said.

    "Your speed and endurance skills must be unbelievable," a bard you could only assume was J-Hope said to you.

    "She clearly doesn't want to talk to us," a necromancer added, before you could respond to the bard.

    The guild looked just like any of the other players in the game. The bard held a recorder in his right hand and the hilt of his sword could be seen just over his back, indicating which weapon he was more likely to rely on.

    The necromancer had black runes on his face, identifying his class. You had similar markings on your arms as a shadow knight, though your magic was weaker than his. His grey hair hung just above his eyes, which you just knew was to give him that brooding look he absolutely must have practiced in the mirror every morning. Next to him stood a living-dead tiger, half of its skin rotted away to reveal the skeleton underneath.

    "We don't have to talk," you started, "but it looks like we do have to work together now. I guess you got your wish, beast lord," you said, turning to look at the player that had approached you earlier.

    "It's V," he responded, and you raised your hand to stop him.

    "I really don't care."

    "He's just being nice; you don't have to be a bitch about it."

    Your attention quickly turned back to the necromancer. "Oh, very original, calling the girl gamer a bitch."

    "Oh, it's not because you’re a girl gamer," the necromancer responded. "It's because you’re being a bitch."

    You scoffed in response. "If a guy acted like this, you guys would be drooling over how cool he is. You'd think, wow he's so stoic and aloof, I should be more like him. You wouldn't call him a bitch.

    "You're right," the necromancer said. "I'd call him an asshole."

    You rolled your eyes before pulling up he necromancer's player specs. Agust D.

    "He didn't mean to call you a bitch," a warlock said as he approached you.

    "I did-"

    "We're all just a little on edge because of the boss."

    You turned to the warlock to view his player specs. Mono: Leader.

    "No problem, Mono," you nodded your head. "We don't have to be friends; we just need to clear the level. I look forward to never seeing you again after this."

    "The feeling is mutual," Agust D said with a smile.

    "Great, then who wants to place bets on which entrance is the safest?"

    "I think it's going to be a dragon," Mono started. "Worldwide and I were talking on the way up," he said, pointing to an enchanter standing at the edge of the group. "and the creator really lives for the classics. He's not going to pass up the chance to put a dragon in a castle."

    "And if you're right, all the entrances suck," you said.

    Worldwide stepped forward, pointing to the side entrances, "The doors on the side of the castle are elevated, so the spell casters should post up there. Hopefully, the dragon is on the bottom floor, and the brawn can attack him there."

    "And if he's elevated?"

    "We're all fucked then," V responded.

    You chuckled. "I don't love those odds." You turned back to Mono. "I'm pretty sure we're going to be locked in there."

    "I considered that."

    The cleric from the day before stepped forward. "So, I need to go in with you guys."

    "May god have mercy on your soul," you responded as you pulled up his specs. Chimmy.

    He laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, you kind of caught me at a bad time."

    "Since we're going in blind, I think we just have to pick a plan and hope it works," Mono said, motioning for the group to close in around him. "Agust D and J-Hope will take the top right entrance. Worldwide and I will take the top left." He waited for his guild members to nod their heads before continuing. "Phoenix, V, and Cooky will go in the front entrance with Agma and Jugeum, and we'll hope the dragon is there."

    "And if it's not?" J-Hope spoke up.

    "We hope that we're not caged and can immediately exit, or we scramble. Everything will be fine, just think smart and quick."

    "And me?" Chimmy asked.

    "I want you to be near the fight, since they will be taking the damage, but I also realize I can't guarantee you a place to hide. You're welcome to come up with us, but then I worry there's no way down to the first floor and we're leaving them to fend for themselves."

    "So, you're leaving it up to me?"

    Mono nodded solemnly. The gravity of the decision clear.

    Despite this Chimmy smiled and clasped his hand on V's back. "Guess I'll just have to commit to saving your ass."

    V laughed in response pulling Chimmy into a hug.

    "No time like the present," Mono said, motioning for everyone to take their position.

    You watched as the boys went before you to their places, and you hoped for their sake that this was the right plan. You liked to think that it was just as hard for the game to get rid of them as it was for you. And as you joined Cooky, V, and the beasts at the front entrance you hoped none of them learned today what it was like to lose someone in this game. To watch them disintegrate before your own eyes.

    As he and J-Hope stood outside of the castle, the runes on Yoongi's face began to buzz with energy. The first time it had ever happened before a fight, Yoongi had been caught off guard. He had panicked and he had called out for someone to help him.

    It was embarrassing and Yoongi really tried to forget it ever happened.

    Now the buzz was exciting. It was the jolt he needed to keep him aware right before a fight. It was the proof that he was powerful and capable of whatever was on the other side of the door.

    Yoongi and J-Hope quickly gave each other a nod of assurance before opening the door to the castle on Mono's signal.

     It was quiet on the inside. Worldwide was right, Yoongi and J-Hope found themselves on an elevated platform on the right side of the castle. Covering each other's backs, J-Hope and Yoongi cleared the platform before looking to see how the other teams were doing. Mono and Worldwide had found themselves in a similar situation, and the latter gave Yoongi a thumbs up to confirm this. Looking down to the floor, Yoongi took note of the dragon that lay sleeping in the middle of the large room. The Phoenix's arms glowed; the shadow knight's magic allowing herself, V, and Cooky to move silently around the dragon. Yoongi quickly looked for Chimmy, hoping that the cleric had found a place to hide, and he almost panicked when he didn't see him, but then Mono made a motion like he could see him hiding. Yoongi figured it was probably good that he couldn't see him. Maybe that meant the dragon couldn't either.

    It was all working out perfectly, and Yoongi had to admit that was a relief. He had been pretty panicked when he had seen that the doors were closed. Remembering this, Yoongi moved back to see if he could open the door to escape. He reached back towards the golden handle, when his runes started to buzz more intensely. He tried to ignore it but the closer he got to the handle, the more they seemed to scream at him. Yoongi turned back towards J-Hope to try and explain to him what was happening when a siren sounded. Yoongi watched as J-Hope scrambled to pick up the recorder he had dropped, muttering the word sleep repeatedly as he did so.

    Yoongi quickly moved back to his position, unsure exactly what was happening but knowing without looking that it had awoken the dragon. He was pretty sure he hadn’t caused the alarm, he hadn’t touched the handle, but if it wasn’t him he wasn’t sure who it could be. He hoped it wasn’t him. He couldn’t see any of his friends get hurt because of him.

     He began to chant under his breath, calling on the power of the dead to help his friends defeat the beast in front of them. His eyes flicked quickly to the scene below him, a sharp intake of air following as he watched his friends and the Phoenix try and plan their next move while the Dragon flailed about. They evaded each of its strikes, but it was clear the sudden alarm had thrown them off of their game.

    As Yoongi’s enchantment set in, a small army of skeletons surrounded the dragon as well. Though not particularly great fighters, they served their purpose well in helping his friends.

    Agma and Jugeum also helped to surround the dragon, the tiger’s eyes meeting Yoongi’s every time it needed a new command. After ten levels, he found it natural to think of Agma’s next move while still muttering spells under his breath. Every time a skeleton fell, Yoongi conjured another.

    Next to him, J-Hope played his recorder, the particular song foreign to Yoongi, but no doubt doing the trick as the Dragon’s head kept twitching as if it was trying to block the notes from entering its subconscious.

    Runes lit up the room as they appeared above the dragon, Mono and Worldwide working hard to bring the dragon down before it could do any harm. Yoongi paid no mind to what they were using, instead focusing on his own spells and the work he needed to do. Everyone had a job, and no one needed him to tell them how to do there’s.

    Yoongi was perhaps the only spell-caster that had to pay attention to what his friends were doing. He had realized this a few bosses ago, when J-Hope was surprised by how low Jungkook’s HP was. It was then that the Bard admitted his focused on himself and the boss, and no else. Mono and Worldwide had agreed; watching the knight was too distracting. They needed to be detached.

    But Yoongi couldn’t do that. He had to watch Cooky so he could figure out where to place a skeleton. He had to watch V, so he knew what to tell Agma to do. Now he had to watch the Phoenix as well. The whole thing was enough to make his heart beat erratically in his chest. He was both removed from the action and immediately in it.

    He watched as the Phoenix made the first move, her sword piercing the dragon’s wing, but having little effect on the creature’s HP. It was going to be a long fight. The team continued to attack the dragon, their blades having a disappointing effect on the boss. The spells helped to weaken the beast, but still it seemed to refuse to die.

    That wasn’t an option. Yoongi sent in more skeletons, hoping to divert the attention from his friends as the continued to fight.

    Jugeum took a hit from the boss, V shouting a curse as he commanded the hell hound to stand back up and keep going. Chimmy appeared at this, throwing the dog a bone to help restore its HP.

    The fight didn’t seem hopeless, but it did seem perpetual. The Phoenix, however, was resilient. She continued to attack the beast with her flaming blade, each attack as visceral as the last. Each strike seemed to say, ‘I will not die today,’ and Yoongi had to admit that he was impressed. She deserved the praise she received.

   Cooky followed swiftly behind the Phoenix, and while she made it away from the dragon before it could attack, the knight wasn’t as lucky. Cooky yelled as the dragon’s talon sliced his chest, before falling to his knees. The Phoenix was on him in an instance, pulling him away from the beast and towards Chimmy.

    Yoongi quickly conjured skeletons to block the way between Cooky and Phoenix, hoping that she could get him to Chimmy before he took anymore damage. Yoongi resisted the urge to check Cooky’s character specs, not needing the anxiety of knowing just how low his HP was after that.

    The Phoenix had barely gotten Cooky to Chimmy before she was back on the dragon. She let out a yell with each thrust of her blade, her attacks somehow angrier than before. For a moment, J-Hope’s song seemed to distract the dragon, the beast sitting still as Phoenix assaulted it with blows.

    But then Yoongi saw it. The rune on Yoongi’s right cheek appeared in the Dragon’s eye, and he was moving before he could think otherwise. With a shake of its head, the dragon burst out of the trap set by J-Hope’s song, and his eyes locked on the Phoenix. The jump from the platform to the bottom floor was no more than five feet, the sting in Yoongi’s calves the worst of it. He vaguely registered that mono was yelling at him, but he had to help them. He couldn’t ignore what he had seen, and there was no way they would hear him.

    He watched as V and the Phoenix continued to fight the dragon, clearly unaware of what was about to happen. Only he had seen the rune and known what it meant.

    The Phoenix shouted something at Yoongi as he went to push her back from the dragon, but he ignored it, continuing to push her towards were Chimmy was hiding. She needed to get to cover, the dragon wanted her.

    “You’re not safe,” Yoongi shouted at her, pleading for her to move, but she continued to fight against him.

    “We’re getting out of here,” she yelled back, as she tried to evade Yoongi by running around him, but he wouldn’t give up.

    Yoongi continued to push her, turning back every once in a while, to make sure he still had time. She cursed as she fell to the ground, and Yoongi shouted for Chimmy to pull her behind the wall he and Cooky were behind.

    He heard it first. The intake of air by the dragon. His first thought was that he was right and his second was that he was in the worst possible place in this moment. Quickly he tried to think of an enchantment to protect him, but he didn’t know of any off the top of his head.

    So, he did the only thing he could think of, and began to chant his fire-starting curse. The Phoenix was fighting Jimin at this point, trying to get him off of her, and she was just about to stand up, when Yoongi saw her eyes widen.

    It was then that he knew he was probably going to die.

    But he continued to chant his fire-starting spell.

    He wasn’t sure exactly when the flames hit his back, the fire not burning but instead feeling like a pressure. Like something was pushing him. He only realized that the dragon was breathing fire at him when the flame began to wrap around his body. He knew that the Phoenix was screaming because her mouth was wide open and her eyes looked terrified, but he couldn’t hear her. He focused on the words of the enchantment and hoped that the was doing the right thing.

    The flames had wrapped completely around him in the moments that he stood there, and as the dragon stopped, the pressure at his back lifted, and with it the world around him began to grow very dark.

    The last thing Yoongi saw as he fell to the ground was the Phoenix running towards the dragon, and he hoped that she was smarter now. That she would see the fire before it happened this time.

    He hoped she would get his friends out of the game as the world went black.

    He had saved you. When he had jumped down from his position, you had called him a prick in your head. You thought he was another asshole that hated being away from the action. And then he had pushed you away from the dragon and you thought maybe he wanted you all to die in here.

    And then he was engulfed by flames. Flames meant for you.

    With each blow you delivered with your sword, Light Bringer, you wished that he would be okay. You refused to turn around and see if his body had turned to pixels and ascended out of the game. It was like Schrodinger’s Cat as you fought the dragon: until you turned back around the necromancer was both dead and alive.

    You placed all of your anger and your anxiety into your sword and you felt yourself grow stronger as the Dragon grew weaker and weaker. If you couldn’t save him like Chimmy, you would avenge him.

    You were sweaty and hyperventilating when the dragon finally turned to pixels. You kneeled by the place where it had been slain, still too afraid to turn around. The prize appeared above your head, but you didn’t care about it anymore. Whatever it was, it wasn’t worth someone’s life.

    The spell-casters ran past you as they got down from the positions to run towards their friends. You knew they were shouting, speaking to each other, but the ringing in your ears was the only thing you registered. 

    And then someone spoke.

    “Congratulations Bangtan and Phoenix,” he said.

    The hairs on your arms raised as you looked up towards the ceiling. The man’s voice was both everywhere and nowhere, and you knew that could only mean one thing. The creator was speaking to you. The man that had trapped you inside of this game had the audacity to congratulate you.

    “You have successfully completed the first ten levels of this game in 201 days, and I am very impressed.”

    “Who are you?” Mono voiced from behind you, and you wondered if he truly didn’t know or if he was looking for confirmation.

    “I am the creator, Mono. It is very nice to meet all of you. I have been watching for so long.”

    “The feeling is not mutual,” Worldwide spat back, and you grinned at his words.

    “I must say, that hurts my feelings slightly.”

    “Oh, I’m sorry,” Worldwide continued. “I wasn’t aware feelings was something you were capable of.”

    “Sick fuck,” you muttered in agreement.

    “Yet here I am, upset,” The creator paused. “201 days is much quicker than I had first imagined and some of you are far more capable than I had ever dreamed. Phoenix?” The creator paused, as if he was waiting for you to respond. You refused to do so, not wanting to give him any satisfaction.

    “I’m sorry,” Worldwide started. “The Phoenix isn’t available right now. Please leave your name and number, and she’ll be sure to get back to you, once she beats this game and gets us all out of here.”

    Worldwide’s remark was met with silence and for a moment you wondered if the creator had given up on whatever it was he was trying to accomplish.

   “Yes, that is a fear that I have. See, Phoenix, I like you. You are a very good player. A bit too good. I think you could get out of here in the next few years if you really set your mind to it, and it appears you have,” he paused, and you swore you could almost hear him smile. “So, I’ve made some changes.”

    The words were out of you before you could even process what you were saying, “Fuck you, you sick fucking fuck!”

    “She speaks,” he cheered. “I am honored you have graced me with your impressive vocabulary.”

    “What did you change?” Mono asked calmly.

    “You have all proven to be successful in a game based on the past, so it made me wonder,” he paused. “How do you feel about the future, Mono?”

    Mono didn’t get a chance to respond, as V cut him off. “The floor! Look at the floor!”

    You had noticed it too, the floor where the dragon had once been, now seemed to sink as a hole formed in the middle of the room. As it grew larger, you realized you needed to turn back around, even if that meant confronting that Agust D was in fact dead. As you quickly moved towards the guild, you had to force away the sob that threatened to come out of you as you saw Agust D still lying on the floor, his head in Chimmy’s lap. He wasn’t awake but he was alive.

    “Players?” the creator laughed. “Are you ready to begin?”

    And then the floor was gone. It took a few seconds before you registered that you were falling, all of Bangtan and yourself plummeting towards nothing. And then there was binary code surrounding each of you, and the black nothing from before, began to feel familiar. The creator was rewriting the code, and you were just a pawn in this re-creation. You had always been a pawn in this game, and he was making it unwinnable. If he could change the very code around you what was the point. You would never win; he would always make it so you would lose.

   He had basically said so himself.

   You don’t know for how long you were surrounded by code, but at some point, the new world formed around you, and you landed harshly against a concrete sidewalk. Chimmy yelped beside you, causing you to look up at him. Your eyes widened as you took in his new appearance. Gone were the linen clothes of the cleric, and instead he was clothed in black and leather. The three dots underneath each of his eyes that symbolized his class and had once been paint now were metallic piercings or implants. It was hard to tell from this distance, and maybe that was why you found yourself reaching up to touch them.

    That was when you saw your arms. Gone were the runes that symbolized your class, and in their place, you found two robotic arms. Lines of metal went up your forearms and only two runes remained one on each of your wrists. One for fire and one for speed.

    You hated how vain it sounded, but you would have killed for a mirror to see what else the creator had changed about you in the rewrite.

    You were looking at the runes when you remembered Yoongi and you quickly pushed yourself to your feet. You ignored the neon city-scape around you as you searched the ground for the necromancer. As you scanned the small area around you, you resisted the urge to see how he had changed the other boys.

    When your eyes met Yoongi’s you were surprised to see him sitting upright. He had seemed dead in the castle, and while he looked disoriented, he was very much alive.

    “Agust D,” you breathed as you moved to crouch down beside him. You heard his guild members shuffle behind you, clearly alerted by your saying his name.

    The necromancer’s runes were changed too, his face had similar metal lines to yours, with small runes at the corners of his eyes like tattoos, one for fire like you and one that you didn’t recognize. Piercings now adorned his bottom lip and eyebrows.

    “You’re alive,” you stated after he didn’t respond to you.

    “Perhaps unfortunately,” he frowned. “This is not the game I signed up for.”

    “He dropped us in a safe zone,” Mono spoke up, drawing your attention back to the group.

    The wizard and leader looked relatively the same, his clothes similar to Jimin’s but his face free of the markings you had found on the necromancer and cleric. His hair was the most changed, the top of his hair pulled back into a small bun, the sides shorter and shaved. The creator believed that man buns were the future it seemed. You almost chuckled at the thought.

    The safe zone seemed to be a small city. Neon signs buzzed around you and advertisements flickered across screens. As you looked around, you realized for the first time that game-generated characters bustled around you, worked at shops, and filled the space. They avoided the alley you and the guild were currently in, perhaps a small curtesy from the creator as you adjusted.

   Though curtesy was not something you would think him capable of.

    “Am I the only one who thinks he just told us the game is unwinnable,” Cooky finally spoke up after a few moments of silence. “I mean he literally changed the game because we were beating it too quickly. Why wouldn’t he change it so that we never win?”

    “I agree,” you said. “Everything is bullshit, nothing means anything. That’s what I got from what he said.”

    “No, we can’t think like that.” J-Hope said as he stood up. “We are going to beat the game. We are going to go home. We just have to adjust and relearn how to play.”

    “J-Hope’s right,” Mono said, clapping the bard on the back. “We didn’t make it this far to give up. We’re going to make it out of here, because there are no other options.”

    You wanted to believe them. You wanted to think that you had already gotten so good at the original game and that you could adjust and adapt to the changes. But as you looked up at the levels and levels of building that surrounded you, you felt so small and yet claustrophobic.

    You had almost gotten Agust D killed and now you had been dropped unceremoniously into the future, and the world scared you. You must have looked as terrified as you felt, as Chimmy reached out to grab your hand. You didn’t look over at him, but you held his hand back and you hoped for his sake that you were wrong. You hoped for all of their sake that you were wrong and that you would beat the game. You felt it only moments later, Chimmy’s magic coursing through you and calming your nerves. You didn’t like guilds much, but you were glad to be with a healer in this moment. You could almost see the appeal.

    Your eye twitched as digital screen appeared before you. You looked around to see if everyone else saw it, but by the look on Chimmy’s face when your eyes met, you were certain they didn’t. The creator must have placed the player menu into a small screen on the player’s eye. That sounded like the kind of bullshit the future was likely to have.

   You looked back at the screen and managed to figure out how to get the notification to open after a few failed attempts. The prize from beating the dragon had been placed in your inventory. At almost the cost of a player’s life, you had won a journal. It felt like a sick joke. You called the journal from your storage and frowned as it appeared in your hands. You were about to throw it on the ground, ready to stomp on it in anger, when writing on the cover caught your attention.

   In the box that said ‘owner’ a message had been written to you. For Y/N: the only girl who has ever tried to get inside my mind.

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[sofhtie]

i’ve made myself so upset at the idea of cami becoming another subclass and for WHAT. it’s Not going to happen i am just :headinhands: about even the vague idea of it