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AUTHOR\'S NOTE: This chapter takes place during Alexander\'s first life.

***

Real-world year 2104

Stellar year 8004

***

HOLY ELF EMPIRE

One of the biggest PvP tournaments in "Horus\'s" history had just ended, one in which Apophis and Lotus had participated.

Apophis had fared miserably, being quickly eliminated from all categories. His greatest humiliation was in the 1v1 category, where he was repeatedly eliminated by players five levels below him. It was a real humiliation, and… even his guild members ridiculed him.

On the other hand, Lotus had shined in all the solo categories and had even won first place in the 1v1v1 category.

Not only did this success earn Lotus a huge reward, but the media started to pay immense attention to her! This was, of course, not only because of her skill as a player, but because of her physical attractiveness.

It wasn\'t long before Lotus received thousands of invites from guilds, as well as date requests from men!

​ Apophis, who had failed miserably in the same tournament, was devastated and humiliated.

He\'d known that Lotus was stronger than him before, but had made himself feel better by telling himself that it was due to her being able to afford better skills and equipment than him.

But seeing Lotus defeat players with even better resources than herself made it clear that Lotus possessed true skill as a player. She was simply much better than Apophis, and even someone as stubborn as him could no longer deny it. Life after Lotus\'s tournament victory was very different to what came before it.

She was often invited to speak at conferences or even TV shows, which annoyed Alexander.

Then she started to go to dinner with other men, and he became completely frustrated.

Alexander was a deeply jealous person. He often lied to himself, making excuses for his mediocrity in order to avoid feeling sorry for himself, but this became more difficult with every passing day.

Despite his jealousy, though, Alexander remained faithful to Emma. He was deeply grateful to her for the support she\'d given him during the difficult time of his mother\'s illness and death, and so he endured the situation.

That is, until an executive of his guild, a player called BlackStar, summoned Apophis for a meeting with all the guild\'s executives.

"Sit down, Apophis," BlackStar said to him when he appeared.

Apophis was intimidated by the presence of all the important guild members. He complied.

BlackStar said, "We heard that you\'re in a relationship with Emma Golsteine, AKA Lotus. Is this true?"

Apophis was embarrassed, but he nodded. "Yes, that\'s right."

BlackStar said, "Good! Then we\'re giving you the mission of recruiting her to our ranks. Succeed, and you\'ll be promoted to guild executive. Of course, this will come with a significant pay raise!"

Apophis was shocked!

This was not only an extremely generous offer, but an opportunity to get out of the shadow of his girlfriend!

He accepted the mission without question. After all, Lotus had frequently mentioned that she wanted to join a guild someday and invest herself fully into it. This would be wonderful for both of them… and perhaps even an opportunity for them to strengthen their relationship, which had deteriorated a lot since his mother\'s death.

Apophis knew that this event would change his life, so he wanted to mark the occasion with a special event. Their two-year anniversary of meeting was that day, so it was the perfect opportunity!

He went to a famous jeweler in the capital and bought a beautiful wedding ring for 10,000 GC.

Once she joined the guild, they would be closer again. Everything would be alright.

***

LATER THAT NIGHT

Emma finally came home from a long PvP conference on PvP. As usual, she was totally exhausted and thinking only of one thing: spending some time with Alexander before going to bed.

But she found that Alexander had prepared a magnificent dinner and a romantically decorated table! Everything was laid out with care to show his love.

Emma was surprised, and then suddenly remembered that she\'d forgotten their meeting anniversary.

Though she loved Alexander, her life was extremely busy. Seeing Alexander\'s attention moved Emma, and she hugged him vigorously.

The dinner went perfectly well until Alexander said, "I have something to tell you."

Emma smiled, delighted with the evening. "I\'m listening."

Alexander said, "I\'ve been given the mission to recruit you to my guild, The Warlord! They want you in a primary position, for obvious reasons! You\'ll finally be able to do the best dungeons in the game on Nightmare and we can see each other more often!"

Emma\'s smile froze. "I\'m sorry Alexander. I have no desire to join a guild right now."

Alexander\'s heart skipped a beat. "I don\'t understand… We\'ve discussed this several times before, and you\'ve always told me that you wanted to join a guild!"

Emma said, "It\'s true that one day I\'ll create my own guild, or help to create one, but I\'m not going to become the stooge of some giant guild who only wants me as a pawn!"

Alexander was deeply hurt. He didn\'t know how to respond.

Emma continued. "Perhaps that was a little too harsh. It\'s not precisely what I mean. It\'s only that… I do not want to owe anything to anyone. I hope you can understand, my love."

All at once, every bit of Alexander\'s frustration over the past month boiled into anger and spilled out in a stream of aggressive words.

"You say \'I\'m\' a stooge?! I\'m not the one giving lectures to everyone who asks just so some rich asshole will tell me I\'m exceptional and invite me to a fancy restaurant!

"I work every day for the money to support us while you brag to the media about how good a player you are! And now that we have an opportunity to see each other more often and to have financial stability, you insult me and call me a stooge and a pawn?!"

Emma paused for a moment before responding. "I am sorry. I didn\'t want to hurt you by being so frank. But… it\'s the truth, Alexander. Players like you \'are\' stooges. Your guilds exploit you and give almost nothing in return.

"You have so much potential! I\'ve seen it in you for the last two years. If you were a solo or co-op player, you\'d be one of the best players in the game, but you keep holding yourself back by being subservient to your guild. I understand that you took this job because you needed money and security for your mother\'s treatment… But she is gone now, Alexander. You need to move on, to accept that you can be better than you are."

At the mention of his mother, Alexander grew furious. "If I had let you die the day we met, instead of selflessly helping you, I could\'ve collected all the money and maybe saved my mother! I wish I\'d done that, instead of wasting that money on you!"

Emma was deeply hurt.

She didn\'t respond, but only rose, took her jacket, and left.

Alexander was too proud to apologize.

A week after their fight, some of Emma\'s friends came to pick up her belongings from the apartment they\'d shared.For a month, Alexander didn\'t try to contact Emma again. Yet, his anger eventually dissipated, and the loneliness in his heart grew stronger with every passing day. Alexander began to realize that he\'d gone too far, that he\'d done something worse than he\'d ever done before.

He tried to call Emma and to send her messages, but nothing worked. Either she had blocked him or was ignoring him completely.

Alexander fell into despair as his depression grew. He attended one of the conferences Emma regularly gave in Paris, thinking that he would wait at the exit and try to reconnect with her in person—

He saw her again.

Standing hand in hand with another man.

Alexander understood. For a moment, he considered following through on his plan, approaching her and talking to her again.

In the end, though, his cowardice won out, and Alexander went home alone.

On his way, Alexander stopped in District 18, the worst neighborhood in Paris, and came home with a dose of Neo-Crack, a drug he\'d heard about from a friend.

Alexander had always hated junkies, but his despair was too great to care about that. In only a few months, he\'d lost not only his mother but also the only woman he\'d ever loved.

Neo-Crack came in various forms, including an inhaler, but Alexander had bought it in its cheapest, crystalline form. He crushed it, then lit his pipe and inhaled the smoke.

His pupils dilated.

His anxiety disappeared.

It seemed as though all his anguish had abandoned him.

Alexander wasted no time. He returned to his gaming booth and resumed his fully virtual life as though he had never met a woman named Emma.