Welcome to my first story, I hope you enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I own nothing, nor do I get any profit from this, this is merely for enjoyment.

The 'the gamer' ability is taken out of the manhwa The Gamer made by Sung Sang-Young and Sang-Ah. Even if I will be using this as the MC's ability, it won't be necessary any prior knowledge of said manhwa, as I will be explaining everything needed in-story.

Black butler's characters don't belong to me, either. That honor belongs to Yana Toboso.

This is a prologue of sorts, the story will properly begin in the next chapter. The story has a slow pace.

The Gamer: fun and games

"The specimen seems to be in healthy condition, but we have reasons to think its origins may not be... from this planet"

A cough

"Although its physical appearance closely resembles that of normal humans, its behavior clearly reveals the true nature of the specimen, which I will baptize as "Specimen Potato"."

"Excuse-"

"It seems to have noticed my observations, but more proof has to be gathered before concluding if it is a sentient being"

A sigh

"So far my conclusions have led me to determine that its current goal is to mingle amongst our race, although it still seems unsure if it's disguise will be good enough, and hangs around the edge of the crowd. It seems to be gathering information on human behavior before it tries to mingle."

"Please stop"

"Ah it speaks! The specimen is able to reproduce the sound of our language, and possibly learned its patterns, very interesting. I will now approach the subject. Hello alien being! Pray to tell what is going on inside that alien mind of yours?"

"You think you're funny, but you're not"

"Please, I'm hilarious! Alright, come on I just wanted to cheer you up, don't make that baked potato face"

"I don't-"

At this point it was pretty obvious that, no matter what I said, I wasn't going to win this conversation.
So I did the mature thing and avoided unnecessary trouble by changing the subject.
"Let's go inside, we're going to be late"

No one said I did so gracefully.

"Yeah, sure, I don't even know why we are going to University today, they should have closed it for the time being"

I blinked. "Why?" It wasn't supposed to be a non-working day, as far as I knew.
"Gosh, haven't you heard? There's supposed to be high risk of earthquakes this month, and a lot of places are closed just in case, but the University sent a mail to say that there would still be class. Didn't you read it?"
"Err." Not really
"What would you have done if class was cancelled? I can already see you outside class looking lost, you have to be more aware of these things"

I knew that, it's just... hard. In an attempt to avoid looking at my friend altogether I fished my phone and turned it on to see the time. And evade the conversation, of course.
I expertly ignored the rolling of my friend's eyes just outside my peripheral sight and unsuccessfully tried to turn the phone on.
Why wasn't it working?
"Alright, I get it 'shut your mouth Kim, I hate the sound of your voice'. Let's just go before we really are late and they decide to flunk us altogether".

They wouldn't fail us just because we didn't come to class for a day. Especially if it was a day that was supposed to be closed because of an earthquake alert.
I was more surprised Kim hadn't decided to skip because of that very reason. She had skipped before for less reasons.
She probably was already on the line and didn't want to push her luck.

Pocketing the phone, we entered our class, while I tried to think positively about the situation: the phone was already dead, I wouldn't have to silence it for class.

The teacher, a small man with a smaller voice, decided that he would start class early to inform his students of something he considered as important.

"As I'm sure most of you already know, yesterday was announced that sometime this month there would be a high probability of an Earthquake happening.
I know most of you wouldn't want to be here knowing this, but the school cannot be closed for so long, as your schedules would have to be re-arranged and we would be unable to teach all the material we have to.
Instead the University will close next week when that probability is at its highest.
I hope that for the remainder of this week you will still come, as this will be important for the exam."

A rumble.

"Is the ground shaking?"

I didn't notice, at first, but now it was obvious, the ground, and probably the whole building, was slowly, but noticeably shaking.
The teacher stopped the lesson once it was obvious no one was paying attention.

Some classmates decided to look out of the window.
"Woah, the ground looks like water!"
Are they stupid? Even I knew that during an earthquake you have to hide under a table (where I was now) or doorway.

"Edric, Edric!"

"Please!" The teacher tried to say something but I didn't hear it, and I at least was trying to pay attention. There was no hope for those classmates that weren't even trying.

"Hey Dalia look it up! The ground outside looks like it's made of water!"
What? Nononono. "Kim! Come back here!" If she heard me, she gave no indication.
Why was everyone so stupid? Can't they see this is not a joke? Sure the quake didn't seem to be that strong, but I had seen these things in TV and this here was a disaster waiting to happen.
The moment I crawl out of my desk the ground will surely open under my feet or fall on my head.

"Everybody please go stand against the wall furthest from the window, stand in the doorway or crawl under your desks!"
I don't think the teacher was going to convince the three fools that had decided to do exactly the opposite of what he just asked. If they even heard him.
And one of those fools was my friend.

Everyone was talking, fidgeting and glancing at the three that seemed mesmerized by something outside the window.
Another fool even dared to approach them by scurrying under the tables to get closer.

I was that fool.

Once I was under the table closest to the only window of the class I grasped Kim's hand and forcefully yanked her under the table with me.

She may have hit her head a little bit, but if she was good enough to complain about keeping her away from the window and not about her head, I don't think I should worry.

"HEY! LOSERS ARE YOU STUPID OR SOMETHING? THE TEACHER SAID GET UNDER THE FREAKING TABLE!" Seeing as I was freaking out myself, I don't think I was in any place to criticize the hysterical voice of one of my classmates.

"Was that Ana?"

I understood her bewilderment, Ana was a very carefree girl that loved anime and drew like a mangaka straight from manga heaven. She didn't raise her voice. She talked, everyone listened.

I still sent her an accusatory glare. She deserved it fully.
At least she looked properly chastised.

The other two fools seemed to have taken refuge under a table two rows away. Looks like they too were quite chastised, thanks to Ana, who could at least knock some sense into people.

"All-alright let-let's..." the teacher seemed more scared than myself, and the sight of four of his students going straight towards the window (sadly I had to include myself, even if I had a good reason) probably gave him a heart attack.

Not to say I wasn't scared, I was terrified. But at least I had managed to get in a place a little bit safer AND my best (and sort of only) friend was safe too.

I heard a crash and after a few more seconds of swaying and rumbling, finally everything stopped. And I meant everything, like the calm before the storm.

Kim seemed eager to get closer to the rest of our classmates, which seemed to have horrified faces and eyes the size of oranges, probably from the crash, something must have broken and fallen.

I was a little bit too scared to move yet, and my legs were... well my whole body was shaking. Or maybe it as the after a th of the quake.

Kim got her head out of the table... and instantly froze. "Dalia..."

Looking at her, she seemed paler, the situation finally getting to her. If it hadn't already. See why we had to get under the table?

She, of course, was in front of my vision of the outside that wasn't covered by the desk, so I couldn't quite tell what had made her freeze.

I hope she wasn't trying to look out of the window again.

With that in mind, I started trying to get in front or at least get a better vision so I could say that whatever she was doing she should stop.

I didn't get the chance.
The ground opened under our feet.

Dalia wasn't a religious person. In fact, most religious displays usually made her uncomfortable, not because she hated any religion in particular or in general. She simply hadn't been taught to believe in any god, she had been taught that everything had an explanation, everything could be proven with hard facts, so any displays of faith always left her wondering what she should do with herself.
She sometimes liked to entertain the possibility of a higher power that ruled their lives like she ruled her Sims. But it was that, speculation.

So, when her only friend started praying, she could only wish that her parents had been less aloof and decided to at least teach her their religion so she could join her friend and pray for their lives.

They were currently outside their University building, hanging from the remains of what was once a window, now a gaping hole that seemed to want to devour them whole.

After the power line right outside their building had fallen on it, taking with it their classroom's window, along with part of the wall, the floor under said wall had started to crumble, taking the desk and the girls with it.

Now they were hanging, almost a floor lower than they originally were, with Dalia holding for dear life from her friend, the only thing preventing her from becoming a pancake.

She knew her friend couldn't keep on holding from the crumpled remains of the wall, and neither could she keep hanging from her friend. She could already feel her hand slipping.

Ironically, to Dalia, this position in the movies always seemed like an overly dramatic scene, in which the protagonist resolutely declared they would not release their partner in hanging (usually the antagonist or another bad guy).
Usually the bad guy ended splattering the floor.

Now she was the bad guy.

She was almost a thousand percent sure she was done for. The only thing she could do was let Kim go, to make her burden lighter (at least physically).
She didn't want to die.
She wouldn't blame Kim if she let her go, knowing that in the other's head something similar was going on.

She didn't want to die.
She was afraid to die.
She was afraid to live.

Her feet were dangling in the air, and maybe this wasn't the best time to admit that, but she had always been scared of heights. She would always deny it and climb high places to show she was not afraid. But in the privacy of her mind, high above the ground, she knew it. She was scared witless.

She looked down. She knew she shouldn't. But she did anyway. With the kind of resignation of someone who goes to visit a friend they are not that proud of, but still know they can't keep avoiding it.

Right underneath her feet was the pole of the power line, with its base broken and precariously perched against the remainder of the wall of the floor right underneath their classroom.

Dalia, as scared as she was, thought that if she could place her feet on top of the pole, she could give a lift to her friend, save her. At least save her.
She had made peace long ago that when her time came, it would take her, and there was nothing she could truly do to avoid it.
Now, when she clearly saw her death before her eyes, she couldn't embrace it like an old friend. She was afraid. Afraid for her friend. Afraid that, if she left now, she would be leaving her friend behind with a broken heart and body.

If she could try to save Kim, if she could save her friend, her life would have been worthwhile.

"Kim..." trembling as she was, she still managed to find her voice. "Let me go"

"NO! I will never!" Of course, she was thinking about their possibilities too, but hadn't moved past the cliches in the movies yet.
"Stop being stupid, I can lift you". 'If the pole holds up', she could have added, but she knew that wasn't the smartest thing to say right now, besides, she was too scared that voicing the possibility would make it reality.

Kim did as told without question, at least it was the best idea they came up with.

Dalia managed to get her feet atop of the pole, and silently instructed Kim to put her feet on top of her.
With the help of her shoulders, hands, and even her head she managed to push her friend to safety.

Now, what? Was this it? Was she going to die, now? She had saved her friend. She could die now and, as scared as she was, at least it would be different than before. Different than hanging from a pole high up. But maybe she wouldn't die. Maybe she could try to crawl into the window of this floor though the pole. Maybe this wasn't her time to die yet.

Well, she was already sitting on the pole, she only had to somehow hang from it and enter through the window that was directly under it.

She petted my head, as she usually did when she wanted to gain an ounce of bravery. 'Everything will be fine. Everyone will be fine.' She repeated in her mind like a mantra.

Lowering herself so she was instead riding the pole, she tried to open the window.

The pole was trembling. The window was trembling. Her fingers were trembling.

Then the world started trembling again and the pole fell all the way to the ground.

'You are dead.'
'Reloading a previous save file... Previous save file not found. Reloading failed.'
'Creating new save file... calibrating...
Calibration complete. New save file created.'
'Reloading save file...'
'Reloading complete'