The entry instructions told us to arrive at the venue an hour early. The rest of the instructions were much simpler. We weren’t given detailed routes or door numbers to enter a backstage area. The message I’d received merely told me to show up at the venue’s player reception, where I’d first received my competitor’s pass. Veyra and I would be received there personally, and an organizer would ensure we arrived where we needed to be.

  This was serious stuff now. The event organizers couldn’t just trust us to figure out our own appearances anymore. The match must have been important enough that if we missed it, canceling it would be a serious loss of revenue. Veyra and I were now important enough that Wind Virtual and event organizers must have thought it was worth it to hire someone to ensure we arrived on time. Or maybe everyone on the main stages got treatment like that. I wasn’t certain.

  Nonetheless, I arrived two minutes late from the requested one hour early mark thanks to my cab driver taking a wrong turn on the way. Veyra and Aree were already waiting, looking worried, with a third person standing next to them—the long-haired woman who’d been running the three versus three tournament.

  “Good, you’re here,” she said as I arrived.

  “Sorry, I’m late,” I said. “No excuses.”

  “It’s fine, this is why we prepare an hour in advance,” the woman said. “I’m Helena, in case I haven’t introduced myself to you yet. I’m assigned as your team assistant for the upcoming match. I’ll guide you through the walk-ins and possible post-match interviews. Have you eaten yet? We might still have time if you need to prepare for the match.”

  “I’m ready to fight, thank you,” I said.

  “Perfect,” Helena said. “If you need something, please tell me immediately. I’ll see if your requests can be arranged. Are you ready to see the team rooms?”

  Veyra and I looked at each other. She looked a little pale, saying nothing.

  “Are you okay?” I asked.

  Veyra took a deep breath. “Yeah. I ate an hour ago. I should be safe. It won’t come out. I’m ready.”

  She looked a little bit like she was focusing on keeping her stomach still. When I kept staring, she smiled and said, “Let’s go, I’m fine.”

  We followed Helena through the hallways of the player area, toward the main stage, until she opened a staff only door. Behind it was a stairway down. A metal ramp had been placed on the stairs for Veyra to descend. Aree carefully moved her down, underground, where we were met with even more hallways.

  This area was quieter, with only a few organizers walking past. There were minimal decorations with random protein bar stands and a few Worlds 2026 banners reminding us that we weren’t in some random arena's basement. Everything in the player areas had been surprisingly plain compared to the flashy stages and the LAN event, and the simplicity continued here.

  “We’re under the stage right now,” Helena said. She opened a door, revealing a similar room to the warm-up rooms above. “This will be your team room. It’s directly linked to the stage for you to emerge straight to the arena for walk-ins. Your opponents have a separate room. Feel free to discuss and warm up here.”

  The room was much larger than the backstage room of the three versus three stage. The right side of the room was filled entirely with game pods, with twenty-two crammed closely together. Twenty was the player limit for guild wars, and they probably had two extra for coaches or substitute players to warm up. The amount of game pods in the venue must have been worth multiple millions.

  The left side of the room had couches, a few bean bags, a microwave and a water dispenser. The whiteboard still had smudges from whichever team had used it before us. A television gave a live feed of the huge arena where we’d be playing. For now, only a few people were camping the front row seats, but the arena was mostly empty.

  The team room of course had computer setups, where an organizer was looking at a rather complex sheet of some statistics I didn’t understand. A security guard also sat by the stairs leading up from the team room. All this was definitely overkill for just me and Veyra.

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  “This is your first time competing, right?” Helena asked Veyra.

  “It’s pretty much my first time seeing sunlight in months,” Veyra said with a sigh. “Worlds has been nice, though. Thank you.”

  Helena smiled. “Your doctor will come soon for a quick check-up, and you’ll have thirty minutes to warm up. Before that, I’ll let you know of everything that’s planned for the finals, from the walk-ins to how trophy ceremonies and post-match interviews will go. Everything is a bit tighter for the main stage and the finals.”

  Helena spent five minutes explaining everything we’d go through, both if we lost and if we won. Nothing seemed too complex. We’d be guided through the walk-in, and the game pods would tell us when it was our time to log out. The winner would receive the trophy and hold an interview directly at the stage after shaking hands with the opponent. The loser was encouraged to wait in the “waiting area” to also hold an interview after the winner, but if emotions were high, the loser was also allowed to return straight to the team room if they didn’t want to say anything to the fans.

  Essentially, Helena gave us advice on how we could avoid stumbling into the wrong places and appearing dumb in front of the audience. Everything seemed simple enough, and I didn’t mind even if I embarrassed myself a little. Regardless, it was good to know what would be happening. We were also shown the call-outs that the caster would be introducing us with, and we were asked if we were okay with that. As dumb as mine was, I accepted it.

  From there, more people arrived in the team room, including Veyra’s doctor. The middle-aged man tested her blood-pressure and whatever other stuff was necessary, while I sat on the bean bag and waited. It didn’t seem like I had much to do. I just had to warm up and go fight. Nothing complex.

  I hadn’t initially been stressed out walking here, but as people bustled past, an anticipation built up within me. In thirty minutes, I was actually about to fight in the biggest arena out of all Wonderwind events of the year. Top players and managers would be watching this with their graphs and statistics. My family would be within the crowd, and I knew for a fact they were stressed out.

  And for those that weren’t in the crowd, most likely, just about everyone I’d ever met knew I was competing in the finals now. They’d either watch the livestream, or see clips after the fact. Very few would skip the finals. My aunts and disapproving cousins couldn’t see me as a failure anymore. So many people were supporting me, hopeful for results.

  People continued bustling around me, while my head blanked. Sounds became quiet, and I stopped paying attention to what happened around me. Right then, something just hit me, like a realization that this was actually real.

  I used to dream of obtaining a Worlds ticket. I used to daydream of randomly telling my dad, “Oh yeah, Wind Virtual gave me an invitation to fly to the biggest tournament of the year to compete, by the way.” Becoming a respected figure in the community for my skills was always a motivator to keep improving.

  Right now, however… None of my old dreams motivated me to perform well in the finals. Something about my dreams just felt underwhelming. They didn’t feel nearly as valuable as I’d thought.

  No, that was wrong. My dreams were just as important as they’d always been. The thing was, I’d just already achieved most of them. We’d had an insane run in Worlds so far, reaching way further than a duo in a three versus three tournament realistically should have.

  The prize money of getting first place wouldn’t change my life drastically. I’d gain respect, perhaps, but respect didn’t change my life much either. My family already thought I was cool regardless of whether I got first or second place, and I’d proven my skills against players I used to look up to. I’d literally beaten SoulShadow.

  Life was already pretty damn good.

  Yet, the more I brooded on this, the more I came to the conclusion that I absolutely had to crush the stage tonight.

  Not because I wanted money or respect, or whatever. My motivation to win was much simpler.

  I wanted to fucking obliterate Annath out of her high seat, for her to be laughed at on the forums like she deserved. I had a perfect opportunity for that tonight. She didn’t even see us as competition. She would walk up to the stage with her nonchalant arrogance, receiving her stupid cheers, while everyone in the audience expected her to roll straight through us three to zero.

  There was no better place to fuck her up than this very match happening thirty minutes from now.

  And after that was done, I wanted to celebrate by bringing the most amazing girl in the world for a date. I wanted to give Veyra the opportunity to leave the stress from the past allegations behind and have a good time at the end of our trip. She really deserved it.

  I stood and walked to Veyra, who was still performing tests with her doctor. She glanced at me.

  “I’ll crush her today,” I promised.

  She faced me, and for once, I felt like we both looked fully determined, fully prepared to bring this home. “I trust you,” Veyra said. “Just for today, I’ll be the best support you’ve ever had.”

  I nodded and got into one of the warm-up pods, where I spent the rest of the wait, until it was time to enter the biggest stage I’d ever been on.