Back-To-Back

Pandora stared at the television screen without being able to blink; the entire living room was in complete silence. Not even a fly dared to disrupt that moment—at any second, the game-defining fight could happen. She gripped her shirt tightly without turning her gaze away. Her hands were clasped in front of her body as if she were praying, repeating softly: "please, please."

The group of three friends was almost climbing on top of each other from the tension.

That was the last tournament of the year. The ultimate fight everyone spent the whole year playing for.

Hall of Destiny, a 5v5 MOBA game. Currently, the most popular game, and that was the most anticipated final. The world championship. There were other international tournaments during the year, but the world championship was different. Qualification for it depended on the teams' performance throughout the year; additionally, whoever won any other international tournament had their spot guaranteed, and the last regional tournament also guaranteed a spot. The matches were intense, featuring rules, maps, and items exclusive to that period.

That year, Royal Mountain dominated almost the entire scene, losing only the trophy of the second regular phase. And now they were fighting for the back-to-back championship.

Everyone stopped to watch that final, the last game in a BO5. The rules for the final game changed. Hall of Destiny featured six different maps in the world championship, with no repeating allowed between games; the losing team would choose the map, and both teams knew the choice. Except for the last game—the map selection would be random, and both teams would only find out the moment the game started, with no bans and a completely blind pick for champions. It was all or nothing.

— I can't watch! — Pandora turned her gaze to her friend for a few seconds.

Diana and Pandora had known each other since high school; it all started when Diana noticed a keychain of one of the Hall of Destiny characters on Pandora's bag. From then on, their friendship began, and they never drifted apart.

Diana's short hair, which had been perfectly neat before the series started, was now a mess after so much fidgeting from nervousness. She hugged one of the cushions tightly and turned her face away at any change in the game.

— Diana, stop it! Open your eyes! No! No! No! Somar can't die! — The argument stopped before it could even begin.

The decisive fight started with a mistake by Royal Mountain's support. Pandora stared at the screen with wide eyes. The fight unfolded, with ROM trying to hold the line even without their support to heal. The casters' voices were getting louder and louder.

The health bars were dropping lower and lower—another kill for the enemy team, and none for ROM.

— They can't lose now. No, no! — Pandora put her hand to her hair, clutching her greenish strands between her fingers.

The enemy team still had half their health, two ultimates, and only one person had been eliminated. Any attempt to stop them from reaching the base was a failure.

The camera showed the faces of ROM's dead players while the enemy team approached the final objective.

Then, the miracle.

— LUGUS! — The group screamed at the same time.

Pandora stood up from the couch, staring at the screen with absolute attention. The team that previously had four people down now had only one left. S4 was advancing confidently to take down the last objective of the game, but they didn't expect ROM's mage to still have his ultimate, locking the four of them in place and landing the full combo on the enemy team's main damage dealer, eliminating him in one second. With Snowxy's help, Lugus managed to eliminate two more, leaving only the support.

— GO, TELEPORT! WIN THE GAME! — The three friends screamed nonstop, looking at the screen. Diana hugged her cushion tightly, and Pandora paced around the room while staring at the display.

When the enemy base fell and the five members of ROM stood up, hugging and celebrating the victory, the living room exploded in cheers.

— I could kiss Lugus right on the mouth! — Pandora shook one of her friends hard. — WE ARE BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPIONS!

— Lugus is truly the best in the world. Look how calm he is celebrating, even after saving a disaster. I would be crying on stage.

— Flin, you would be crying just from winning — Diana gave a light punch to her friend's shoulder. — And someone is already crying, even without being the one on stage.

Their eyes turned to Pandora, who was wiping away tears. She stuck her tongue out at her friends, rolling her eyes.

— I am crying, so what! You can't judge me. — Diana brought her hands to Pandora's cheeks, squeezing them while shaking her face from side to side. — Ow! Ow!

— Wow, Dora is such a crybaby.

— Diana!

The celebration of Royal Mountain's victory and Lugus's play lasted for several weeks. In the entire Hall of Destiny community, people could only talk about how Lugus acted even at a disadvantage and secured the title. ROM became the first team to win the world title twice, while Lugus simply continued writing his history as the best player in Hall of Destiny.

The off-season period didn't dampen the fans' spirits; in fact, it only made them more excited. The transfer window—the moment everyone was waiting for—arrived. Fans wanted to see that team together one more time, but it was hard to keep a roster together, especially after winning a world championship. High offers, new talents emerging... but ROM took the risk.

ROM kept their entire roster, and comments on social media exploded. Expectations were high, with people saying they would have a perfect year. If last year they had lost only one title, this year they would win them all.

Then the season started. Pandora was alone this time. Looking at her laptop, it was the start of the first regular phase—three rounds of single games that would determine their placement on the table, which teams should fight for league qualification, and overall standings.

— What? No! No! Why are you guys playing like this? – Pandora fell backward onto her mattress, rubbing her hand over her face.

ROM's first game was against Fear. It shouldn't have been a difficult game. Fear was a good team, but ROM had always won those matches without any trouble. It shouldn't be any different this time.

The end of the first game arrived, but the result was not what was expected. Comments from haters celebrating and fans outraged by the poor performance flooded the livestream chat nonstop.

Pandora stared at her laptop in complete disbelief; it didn't even look like the same team that had won the world championship last year.

— How? — The final statistics showed Fear's victory.

The charts for damage, gold, and objectives were all in Fear's favor. It was as if they had played that entire game alone. The team that had dominated the scene the previous year hadn't even been able to react throughout the whole match.

Diana appeared at the door of Pandora's dorm room, walking in excitedly, and started asking about the game. Diana rooted for ROM, but she only liked watching the matches during international tournaments, so her source of news was always Pandora.

— How many kills did our dear Lugus get in this game? And did we have an amazing play from our...? — Diana looked at her friend's devastated expression and furrowed her brow. — We didn't lose, that's impossible. We never lose to Fear.

Pandora turned the laptop toward Diana, showing that not only had they lost, but they had lost badly.

— Did they put the substitutes in to play? — Pandora pointed to the in-game names, showing that the starters had played. — It was just a bad game. It's the beginning of the season, they must be getting used to the changes, and it was just one game—these things can happen. ROM loses the first game a lot of times in a series. Don't look like you're at a funeral.

The day of the second game came, and another defeat. Pandora grew increasingly outraged to see how that team was playing. Zero team synergy, silly mistakes happening—even the casters were in disbelief at the poor performance.

The last game took place and ended in a victory—a hard-fought victory against a bottom-table team. Comments from fans of other teams said that ROM's bad phase had arrived, while others claimed they had just gotten lucky last year.

For the first time in his five-year career, Lugus was in the relegation zone and would have to play the qualifiers.

The library was in complete silence. Pandora had been staring at the blank sheet of paper for over an hour, but she couldn't write anything. She had to hand in that assignment by next week. She read three articles from different sources, researched various authors, blogs, and even asked her classmates about how they were doing the assignment. But the moment she started writing, the information vanished completely, and it was as if she hadn't read anything.

— I hate these assignments. — She tried to focus on the book again. — I'm going to go crazy by the end of the day.

Pandora rubbed her face hard. The words seemed to scramble. She wrote drafts, but none seemed to be good enough.

A hand appeared on top of the laptop, closing it slowly. She looked to the side, seeing Diana staring at her with her big blue eyes and her hands behind her back.

— Whatever it is, the answer is no. — She knew that smile, she knew very well that nothing good would come from it.

— No, not even to see the first game of the qualifiers? — Diana pulled a pair of tickets from behind her back. — Are you still going to say no?

Pandora stood up from her chair, taking the tickets in disbelief. She had tried to get tickets for any day, but they sold out in seconds. Later, she tried getting tickets through the fan club, and again, they were sold out.

— How? The tickets are sold out. — The qualifiers were four days of non-stop games, and all teams played in the first two days. — You got them for all four days? Diana, have you been talking to the wrong people? — Pandora stared at the tickets, unable to believe that this was real.

— Consider it your early birthday present. You always said you wanted to go watch the games, but they are always sold out. A friend of mine works at the arena, so... — Pandora hugged the blonde tightly, the smile not leaving her lips for a single second. It was like a dream come true.

The qualifier took the three best teams from the secondary league and the two "worst" from the main league. The two teams with the best results would advance to the playoffs, and the two that won would go to the regular phase of the main league. ROM finished in second-to-last place, so they would have to face the qualifiers. Even though it wasn't the main league games, Pandora was happy to be able to watch.

If ROM lost the qualifier, they would have to play in the secondary league until the next phase of the regular season. Of course, that left all the fans anxious, even if the possibility was minimal.

None of the players appeared in public events or streamed until the start of the qualifiers.

The week passed quickly, and the first day of the qualifiers arrived. Pandora woke up early for ROM's first game. The arena was packed. It was the first time a top team had dropped into the relegation zone. ROM fans were the majority, wearing the uniforms and carrying banners of support for the players.

— You have a scared look on your face. — Diana said, waving her hand in front of Pandora.

— I'm just impressed. — She pointed to the players' banners and the whole organization of the event. — I didn't know they paid this much attention to the qualifiers.

— They don't, but ROM's presence made them change a bit. And they also say that a team paid a lot of money for a spot in the qualifiers. — Pandora furrowed her eyebrows. — Only two teams from the secondary league are going to participate. There's a clause in the rules that if a new team doesn't want to participate in the secondary league, they can buy a spot in the qualifiers. They are called Invictus Rise. Apparently, it was already settled since last year, and the team that would have had their spot also agreed.

— Isn't that a bit unfair? The teams played the entire regular season to try to move up to the main league the following year, and then someone comes along and buys a spot.

— Sometimes it's better than letting them go to the secondary league. If they are too good, they can unbalance the league. — Diana opened a bag of chips, offering some to Pandora. — Let's go inside. The first game is against Fox, and then we only play the last game.

The two entered the arena, taking their seats. Pandora identified a different uniform in the middle of the crowd. Some people were holding up posters with the face of a player she didn't know much about.

— Isn't he that player everyone was talking about? He was going to debut this year, wasn't he? They said Fear offered him a contract. He turned it down to go to a team he's not even sure will make it to the regular phase? — The logo on the uniforms was unfamiliar, so Pandora suspected it was from the new team.

— They must have offered more money. — The lights began to flash, announcing the start of the games.

The lights on the stage began to flash, announcing the entrance of the players. Lugus was in the middle, and the entire audience began to scream and applaud.

— They don't look happy to be here.

— They are playing the qualifier after winning the world championship, nobody would be happy. — Pandora agreed and looked back at the stage.

It was an easy and fast game. Fox Year was already a well-known team in the main league. Fox finished in last place in the initial games.

All the game resources went into the hands of ROM's damage dealer, Floxy, securing an easy victory for Royal.

A total of five games would take place that day. ROM would only play again in the last game.

— Come on, I want to get something to eat. — Diana called her friend, but Pandora shook her head.

— Aren't you curious to see how they play? If they are a concern for the secondary league, they should win these two games without any problems. I'm just curious to know their style. — Diana looked at the stage where the players were starting to enter. The expression on her face showed she had absolutely no intention of staying there to watch.

— You can stay, I'll go buy something to eat. Do you want anything?

— Just popcorn and a soda.

Diana agreed, leaving just as the champion selection began. Only one player was known, the midlaner. He is known as Kaneís. People thought the nick was strange, and he also never explained the reason for the choice. When people saw that name for the first time, they started to laugh, but then he began to climb the ladder until rumors about a team hiring him started.

— Kaneís made a bold choice. Gaia received a nerf in the last patch, and she hasn't appeared in the scene for several months. It's not the best choice for the team's debut game, especially in decisive matches like this one.

Gaia was a strong champion with a lot of damage, until she received nerfs in three consecutive patches and stopped appearing. Even without being significant, she received another nerf last week. Choosing her in a game like that was, to say the least, concerning.

The game began, and Pandora looked at the screen with curiosity.

Despite the early disadvantage, Kaneís kept attacking and maintaining an aggressive lane, always playing on the edge and almost dying. To say that Invictus won the game was almost an understatement, they completely dominated the game. The poor team that finished in second place in the secondary league didn't even stand a chance to defend themselves.

In 23 minutes, their base was on the ground.

— Wow... — The fans cheered excitedly, while the rest stared at the statistics completely in shock.

A team with no familiar faces, only rookie players. The commentators took advantage of the break to draw their conclusions about the game.

"It was a secondary team, in the main league it's different. They might even win against FOX, but ROM will show them how the main league works."

— Already? I thought I'd catch the end of the game. — Diana handed the popcorn to Pandora.

— They destroyed the game.

— At least we walked away with two wins. We need two more tomorrow, and after that, we just have to win a BO3. — Pandora hugged Diana tightly. — Thank you, thank you. You are the best friend in the world!

— I know, I know. You can say it, there is no better friend than me! — Diana tilted her nose up, laughing seconds later. — Let's go to Flin's work, let's stall him and ask to sleep at his house. You know he never says no, and it's easier to go from his place than from the dorms.

The two had met Flin by chance, a friendship that arose in a moment of desperation. Diana needed to print a college assignment and found herself in despair, not knowing where to go. It was almost midnight, and she couldn't find any place open.

Flin appeared like an angel. He was on his break and saw the two talking. Since he worked at a lan house, he said he could print it for them. After that day, the three became, almost, best friends.

— So you two go out to have fun while I stay here working, but nobody thinks about poor Flin. — Flin threw himself onto the counter, playing it dramatic while closing his eyes.

The two crossed their arms, staring at Flin's drama. They were already used to that. The lan house where Flin worked was practically an official venue, and many events happened there.

— You never warn us when an event is going to happen here. — The two pointed at him.

Flin ran his hand through his brown hair, giving a sheepish laugh as he stood up from the counter.

— Those are just details, and you two always say you are busy. Right? Right! I'll make it up to you with... free drinks until the end of my shift.

— And we are going to sleep at your house this weekend. — Flin thought about refusing, but Diana raised her hand, pulling his hair. — Let's go get my milkshake, and this time I'll watch you make it to be sure you won't get the flavor wrong. You want cherry and strawberry, right, Dora?

Pandora didn't even answer, and Flin was dragged away by his hair.

The lan house was busy with people who had just left work, students, and even the people who had been watching the games. Even with all the noise, everyone seemed far too focused on their own games to notice the small argument.

Pandora heard the sound of the bell at the door, announcing the entrance of another customer. She turned her face just to see how many people had arrived so she could let Flin know later, since all the service was done through the automated machine.

That person's face was very well known. Pandora saw him at least twice a week during the regular season, not to mention the times he appeared on her social media feed or during the streams she left running in the background while studying.

Pandora always thought it must be uncomfortable for someone to approach you during your personal time. Even if she was a big fan, she would feel a certain hesitation to get close. It was because of that and the sheer nervousness of meeting someone she admired. Only, she had no way to hide, since she was wearing the team's uniform.

Pandora raised her hands, covering the team's logo on the front, and turned her body slightly, giving a weak, welcoming smile.

Standing at the door with a confused expression was Ares, or his real name, Calem. One of the Royal Mountain players.

— Are you okay? — Calem's voice was soft.

Calem was known for not talking much during games; he only gave direct instructions about objectives, and during his streams, he also remained completely focused.

Despite his nick being related to a god of war, Calem could be described as adorable. The glasses resting on the tip of his nose, green eyes with a grayish undertone, and brown, slightly wavy hair reaching the nape of his neck. Seeing him in person was completely different from seeing him through a screen.

— Yes, you can place your order at the automated machine and go up... — She pointed to the machine on the side. Calem seemed to be holding back a laugh.

— Sure. — He remained standing there, staring at Pandora.

Pandora had long, greenish strands of hair that reached her waist. Her violet eyes created a sharp contrast with the unusual tone of her hair. She wasn't short, and her build was slender. If it weren't for the flashy hair, she could easily be considered an ordinary person.

— Hiding the logo on the front doesn't work very well; I can see Lugus's name on the back. — Calem pointed to the back of the uniform.

Pandora laughed weakly, running her hand through her hair, nervous. It was a bit embarrassing to meet him like this.

— Sorry...

— We are almost right next to the arena. If I didn't want to meet any potential fans, I would have gone home. — An amused smile was trapped between Calem's thin lips as he began to walk toward the stairs to the second floor. — Just ask them to log the time I came in; our manager comes to settle the tab at the end of the month. You can come up and ask for a photo or an autograph whenever you want.

Pandora stood frozen, looking at the entrance door without knowing what to do. It was a mixture of shock and the urge to kick herself. That kind of thing happened only a few times in a lifetime, and she had managed to do everything wrong.

Diana and Flin returned from the snack bar with three milkshakes.

— Dora? — Diana looked worriedly at her friend, leaving the drink on top of one of the tables in the reception area. — Everything good?

Flin went over to the computer to check which stations were occupied and if anyone had come in during that time. He furrowed his brow and then looked at the two of them.

— Did someone ask to use the upper floor? It's showing that one of the private rooms is occupied, but there is no logged request. — Flin's voice became deeper, worried that something might have happened and someone had mistreated his friend. — Did someone do something to you?

— Ares is up there...

— Which Ares, Pandora? — Diana spoke, completely disbelieving her words, but Flin didn't seem to doubt it.

— Ares! Ares, Calem. The Ares from Royal! — She didn't speak loudly, but even if she did, the other people were so focused on their own games that they wouldn't have even noticed.

— They didn't warn us that he would come today... whatever, they never warn us anyway. — Flin grumbled, focusing back on the computer.

Pandora snapped out of her state of shock, staring at Flin.

— They never warn you? — The two of them spoke together.

— Don't look at me like that! I signed a non-disclosure agreement and I can't say anything about it! And I always try to call you guys when they are here! — Flin defended himself quickly. — Every single time I sent a message telling you to come over here and you both said no, so don't you dare come blaming me, because I tried!

The two felt forced to agree. Whenever Flin sent a message, they were either too busy or too lazy to go. College assignments took up most of their free time. Diana kept staring at Flin, trying to find some way to still blame him.

— You should... you should have insisted more! — She turned her face, staring at Pandora. — Did you take a photo? Where is the autograph? Come on, let me see!

Diana showered Pandora with questions, trying to grab her phone to check for the supposed photo.

— I didn't ask for a photo. I panicked the moment I saw him and tried to hide that I was wearing the uniform.

Flin and Diana burst out laughing together; they didn't even give Pandora time to recover from the embarrassment. Pandora felt as if her cheeks were on fire.

Diana wiped away fake tears, and Flin leaned against the counter, trying to contain his laughter. Pandora approached both of them, pinching their waists so they would stop laughing.

— Stop laughing! You would have done even worse in my place. He appeared out of nowhere, it wasn't my fault. — She defended herself, feeling offended by the laughter. She shrunk back, turning her face away to the other side.