Hey guys! Chron here with my entry for Doomdestroyer98's Backstory contest! I am in a bit of a rush at the moment, so I apologize for the lack of formatting. I'll have it fancied up soon enough. In the meantime, I hope y'all enjoy the story!

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“Hey, get off!”



I picked myself up and hurried out of the schoolhouse. I was never one of much size of stature, and so I had assumed the second personality of a red-headed ragdoll. It wasn’t the worst sort of life, but it was nowhere near perfect. My name… isn’t really important for the purpose of this story, but I like to go by Doom. Not because of my threatening presence. I never was, and never want to be a threat. No, doom is what my life is founded upon. Both the victim and the suspect, the accused and the accuser, the master and the servant. Cold, hard doom.

It all started in my sanctuary. In the electronic chaos of the arcade, I found peace. It was the reason why I wore the same few pairs of clothes, and was never up on the latest trends. Not to mention school… I could sink hours into the labyrinth of technology, and never skip a beat. I had a network of friends that I hung out with, and every chance we had we would gather up our hard-earned quarters and challenge each other to conquering the latest and greatest cabinet. Even though I was a part of the team, I always felt like the runt of the litter. I never went first, never went last, and couldn’t really win much of anything. But that never mattered to me. I was away from the horrors of the rest of my life, and I was happy.

When there wasn’t a new game to explore, each of us had our favorite systems that we stuck to, and were considered the champions of. Ricky was the Dig-Dug Dominator, Manny the Galaga Grandmaster, and so on and so forth. I had never found my game that I was the best at, but there was one that always pulled at my heartstrings… The name escapes me to this day. It was tucked away in the darkest corner of the arcade, and I had to brush away the cobwebs to access it. I’ve always wondered what drew me to it… Maybe I could relate to the feeling of neglect, the feeling of being alone.

The game itself wasn’t all that different from some of the others. Ahead of its time, really. You ran around this incredible 3D landscape, blasting everything in your path with whatever you held in your pixelated hands. It was so satisfying watching the monsters fall before the might of my trusty shotgun… I liked to envision them as my bullies. I knew it wasn’t healthy, and it was an insult to the monsters, but it gave me a sort of drive. A drive that… well, didn’t land me the highest of scores. I could never break my personal record of 98th, a laughable position. I practiced for what felt like forever, and nothing. But that didn’t stop me.

This afternoon was a particularly normal one. After achieving the usual bumps and bruises also known as education, I scurried off to my solace of circuitry, waved to my friends (who didn’t seem to notice me), and made my way to the corner I called home. I followed through with the motions of clearing out the cobwebs and kicking away the surrounding trash when I noticed something, something… incredibly strange. There was someone playing my game. And not just someone, a girl. A pretty one at that. Instantaneously, a war began in my head over whether or not I should attempt communication, and before I could come to a conclusion, she lifted her head to view my reflection. I’m not entirely sure how I managed to stay on my feet. Her eyes were the most radiant green, illuminating the dim room with their emerald-like splendor. Just as quickly as she had lifted her head, she ducked back down and returned to her game.

I had absolutely no idea what was going on in my frazzled system at the time. Love? I had never known it. But was this… Different? Appearances rarely lead to anything…

While my hormones were causing me to space out like no other, the dilapidated cabinet uttered a sound I thought I would never hear:

“Congratulations! You have completed the final campaign!”

My jaw hit the Coke-stained floor. For what felt like minutes, I was unable to process the tremendous event that had occurred in front of my unworthy eyes.

“What, have you never beaten this guy before?” That voice… Why was everything so amazing and perfect about her?

“Uhhhnnnn… words?” I instinctively slapped myself. “That was… quite impressive. H-how did you manage that?”

“Not sure, really. I just kept pushing the buttons and the creatures kept falling before me. It was pretty exhilarating, though. Not sure else how to describe it. You want a go?”

I hear about every third word she said, as I was staring at the one thing I could find that shone brighter than her eyes. A gorgeous pendant, illuminating her chest with a brilliant green glow.   

“You… You noticed the pendant, didn’t you?”

Something in her had changed. I wasn’t witnessing what I thought I was.

“I guess I can’t put this off any longer. It was so nice, hiding here, in this corner, away from my thoughts. But that’s not why I came. You don’t know who I am, because what you see is what you want to see. But I know who you are. What you endure, the pain you store up inside you… Your time to unleash it has come. Your pure heart has served you well these years… No longer shall you run to your solace to escape your doom. No, you are your solace, and the world shall flee from you. You are their doom. You are their destroyer.”

A blinding green light, far more luminous than before, flashed intensely and flooded the room. I was knocked unconscious for what felt like weeks, but I knew in what was left of my rational mind that that much time hadn’t passed.

I woke up in the arcade, surrounded by my so-called friends. Until I forced my eyelids apart, I was unable to make out exactly what they were doing. A sort of… Fearful laugh? It was the most respect I had ever received, so I took it for what it was. After regaining the ability to use my limbs, I reached at my chest and noticed the pendant, dangling around my neck. It burned hotter than any sensation I had felt before, but it never burned. Just… pure, unbroken heat. It felt nice. As I stumbled to my feet, those around me fled, as though I was appalling to them. Or was it fear?

After a quick observation, the first thing I noticed was that my arcade was unplugged and the screen was shattered. I peered inside and discovered a pristine-looking shotgun, complete with two chrome barrels of potential destruction.

“Hey guys, come look at what I-”

Silence.

No one was there.

In the cold, abandoned room, normally vibrant and at the pinnacle of jubilee, there was silence. For the few seconds after its birth, it was beautiful. I could think, I could breathe, I could feel, all without pain. But I knew this couldn’t last forever. Making my way through the gaming graveyard, I heaved open the barred doors to discover a similar void of life outside, aside from a lone butterfly, hopelessly tossing in the wind. Life was as it should be now, calm, collected, without pain, without hurt.

As I walked the monochrome streets, the wind, my sole companion, delivered messages, shaped by that sirenic voice I had known for so little time.

“This is your world, your life, now. Your doom is over, and has been re-cast where it belongs. There is no fear, no hatred. You are the destroyer of such things.”

Off in the distance, a radio croaked its final breath.

“Crisis… ninety-eight percent… gone.”

I had almost reached the end of the road, where the schoolhouse was built, when a tattered bus came rumbling around the corner. As it approached me, it began slowing down. When our paths crossed, the driver opened the door and looked down at me.

“Well, look here, another survivor. What’s your name, son?”

Name. I hadn’t thought about that in quite some time. Doom, destroyer of fear, hatred, malice, pain… 98. That had a nice ring to it.

“Doom, sir.”

I picked up my shotgun and climbed aboard.

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Thanks for Reading!