Chapter 7
The next day, while I was preparing for the Ashen Mythos game auction, I suddenly received a call from Fronville Hospital.
Marvin had slashed his own leg. When the paramedics arrived, he was lying in a pool of blood, laughing uncontrollably, mumbling, “Now Serena will forgive me.”
The hospital staff said he insisted on speaking to me and refused treatment unless I came in person. His wound was still bleeding heavily, and the floor was soaked red.
But I couldn’t bring myself to forgive him so easily-not after being lied to, tricked, and humiliated 100 times two years ago.
I politely declined the nurse. “I don’t know him. If he refuses treatment, maybe you should contact a funeral home for him.”
On the other end of the line, Marvin cried out, trembling, “Selene, my leg hurts so bad, I think I’m dying. Please, I’m begging you, just come see me. You used to care about me so much…”
Feeling sick, I hung up without a word.
The old Serena would have dropped everything the moment she heard Marvin was in trouble.
But every time I rushed over, he wasn’t there-or worse, I’d be met with Shirley and the others mocking me.
“Serena, you’re acting like Marvin’s pet. Just a call, and you come running.”
“Yeah, you’re so pathetic. Is this what love’s done to you? You’re such a simp, it’s pathetic.”
I took a deep breath, pushed the memories away, and returned to preparing for the Ashen Mythos auction.
This time, I wouldn’t let anything stop me.
But just after midnight on the eve of the auction, Shirley posted a batch of old sketches and programming documents on X. They included the game’s early framework, with the computer timestamp showing a date from two years ago.
She accused me of stealing her original game.
Shirley was behind 99 of those cruel pranks back then. In the end, Marvin dumped her. Since then, her family’s business had been in constant decline, sabotaged by Marvin for my sake. Now that I had “come back from the dead”, I guess she was seething.
But the moment I saw the files, I recognized them. They were the stolen game drafts Marvin had taken from my computer and
handed to her.
On the day I faked my death, Shirley had smugly bragged that this would become the Innova Gaming Competition’s award- winning entry. She said Marvin would make sure she’d win first place, and I’d be labeled a copycat, submitting my files three minutes later than she did.
Later, while I was recovering from my injuries, I didn’t enter the Innova Gaming Competition at all. Shirley backed out too, scared off by Marvin’s threats.
I never expected her to come back like this two years later, unloading all her pain and rage onto me like a madwoman.
Her post shot straight to the top of the trending list, breaking the internet.
The once-acclaimed winner of an international gold prize had suddenly become a plagiarist who stole from an unknown designer. The backlash came fast and hard. My reputation, once built on talent and hard work, was now buried under accusations of theft.
The auction was the next day. With this scandal hanging over me, the game’s value and reputation were bound to take a hit. Sure enough, the official site showed our game’s bidding price had already dropped to half.
1/3
More people flooded the competition organizers with complaints, demanding that the gold prize be revoked. According to them, a thief like me didn’t deserve it.
My assistant rushed in holding a tablet. “There’s still time to stop the auction…”
I touched my right leg, still aching faintly from rehab, and looked out at the morning light spilling over Fronville.
“Pull up the cloud backups from two years ago.”
Proving myself wouldn’t be hard, but digging through endless drafts and compiling everything into a clear statement could take hours. Who knew how long it’d take or how much it would cost?
I might have to pull an all-nighter and still not finish. Ashen Mythos might not even make it to auction.
Just as I was pushing through the headache and getting ready to start, the conference room door flew open.
“Ms. Davison, you have to watch this livestream-it’s Marvin!”
I pulled up my laptop. There he was, lying in a hospital bed. He looked pale as a ghost in his hospital gown, his skin stretched
over bone.
An IV was taped to his hand, and ECG electrodes were stuck to his chest. At the collar of his gown, the edge of a fresh knife wound peeked out-another self-inflicted one.
“These are Celeste’s design drafts from 2019 to 2021.”
He held up a thick stack of yellowed paper.
“On November 3, 2019, Celeste messaged me from the library at 2:00 AM and said, ‘The phoenix’s eye needs a shimmer that reflects the element of rebirth.””
Then he played a recording.
My voice came through, blending with the hum of a coffee machine. “Marvin, the maze in Chapter Three was inspired by the tomb of King Nebuzar…”
Right then, my assistant spoke again, “Ms. Davison, there’s more-check X!”
I switched to X. Marvin had uploaded several video clips showing tons of sketches, design notes, and programming logs. He even included full version histories of all my design files on Git,’each with millisecond-precise timestamps.
Everything pointed to one clear truth-Ashen Mythos was my original work, not Shirley’s.
“I was involved in parts of the game’s development,” Marvin said in the video. “I can confirm every concept came from Celeste. As for Shirley’s actions, I’m considering taking legal action to defend Celeste’s rights.”
The tide turned immediately, and my reputation bounced back overnight.
Shirley had thought she could finally crush me. She never imagined Marvin would step up and defend me. Left with no choice, she deleted her posts and issued a public apology.
Her family’s company took a hit from the scandal. One by one, their partners pulled out.
Now, the internet was flooded with outrage-this time, all aimed at her.
At the end of the livestream, a strained smile formed on Marvin’s frozen, pale face. “I hope everyone will support Ms. Celeste’s Ashen Mythos auction tomorrow.
“Celeste, I hope this can make up for something…”
Hearing those words through the screen, I sat in silence, my thoughts a tangled storm.
2/3
The official site showed the game’s price was climbing fast-higher than it had ever been before.
