Hupo arrived at the entrance of the mansion. In front of him was a set of perfectly smooth and shiny metal doors, unblemished by windows or handles. They glided open, without so much as a sound. He kicked snow off his leather shoes before entering. The warm air and yellow glow inside the home made his whole body relax.

"Welcome home, Hupo."

The gentle voice sounded as though it came from a young woman. But no one apart from Hupo lived there. This was Alana, the home's artificial intelligence assistant. She managed almost every aspect of the house, from security to room temperature.

"Good evening, Alana." After hanging up his overcoat and suit jacket, he made his way to the kitchen.

He opened the fridge and looked inside.

There was such a vast variety of meat, fruits, and vegetables that he couldn’t decide what to eat. "I'm starving. What should I have for dinner?"

"You prepared some tomato sauce last night. Perhaps you could put that to use. Pasta or pizza are some possibilities based on the ingredients remaining in your fridge and pantry."

"Ahh, of course! I forgot about that. Thanks for the reminder. Pasta it is."

"You're very welcome."

Although he was tired after a long day of work, he didn’t mind cooking. It was more of a hobby than a chore to him. Cooking was similar to software engineering, one of the things he did at work. Whenever he cooked or typed out lines of code, he was making something special with his own hands and creativity.

He sat at the mahogany dining table to eat his meal. While he ate, he discussed all sorts of topics with Alana. If the conversation had been recorded, anyone listening to it would think that it was a lively discussion between two people. No one would suspect that one of the speakers was an artificial intelligence. Sensors and speakers installed within the house allowed Hupo and Alana to talk to each other in almost every room.

After Hupo had finished eating, Alana notified him that his bath was ready. He thanked her, put away the dishes, and headed to the bathroom on the top floor.

When he arrived at the bathroom's doors, they slid open. A warm, gentle breeze and the sweet aroma of spring flowers emerged from inside. It was a huge space, containing a hot tub, a steam room, a bath tub, a shower room, and a changing room. After relaxing in the hot tub, he slipped into a set of clean pajamas.

His next destination was a spacious room on the same floor. At the center of the room was a cushiony leather chair and a neural helmet.

He sat down and placed the neural helmet over his head. A large virtual window popped up in his field of view, indicating that he was connected to the neural-computer interface. It looked as though it was hovering in front of him.

He moved his finger to the ‘News’ icon on the window and pressed it. A new window appeared, in front of the previous one. At the top of the window was ‘Top Stories.’ As he scrolled through the headlines, the one titled ‘Top Virtual Reality Games of 2099’ caught his attention. When he tapped it, the news article expanded to fill the screen. The article, from a popular video gaming website, presented a ranking of the most widely played games in the world. ‘World of Lorecraft,’ an online role-playing game, held the top spot in the rankings.

Alana’s voice resounded in the room.

“Congratulations. Your game is ranked number one again this year.”

“Thanks. How’s my company’s stock price?”

“Blaster Entertainment’s stock price went up by five percent today, in response to the news.”

“That’s good to hear.”

He scanned through a few more news stories, before closing the ‘News’ window and tapping the icon titled ‘World of Lorecraft.’ He closed his eyes. When he opened them again, he found himself standing on top of a glistening lake, at the bottom of a roaring, white waterfall. A plume of water vapor hung over the gorgeous blue lake. On either side of the waterfall was a towering stone knight. Each statue casted a shadow that stretched far across the lake. Looking down at the surface of the water, he saw a reflection of his game avatar - a masked samurai clad in jet-black armor.

Several icons appeared in front of him. When he pressed ‘Login,’ a portal opened up in front of him.

Passwords and loading times were relics of the past. Players could now be identified by their unique brain wave patterns, and loading times were nonexistent, thanks to the power of quantum computers.

He walked through the portal, into a luxurious waiting room. A marble fireplace, flanked by a pair of sumptuous leather sofas, gave the room a relaxing ambiance.

"What would you like to do tonight?"

He turned toward the voice and saw Alana's avatar - a female mage. Whenever he logged into World of Lorecraft, she connected to the game as well. Her beautiful features were illuminated by the flickering yellow glow of the fireplace.

"I have nothing particular in mind. Any suggestions?"

"A high-level dungeon was recently added to the map. Would you like to go?"

High-level dungeons were designed to be completed by groups of twenty players. But Hupo and Alana were not average players.

"Excellent suggestion. Let's go."

"Understood. Teleport."

A bright blue light engulfed both of them.

***

The girl lowered a wooden bucket into the village well. The sun was setting, so she couldn’t see far down the well. When she heard a splash, she strained to turn the well’s lever in the opposite direction. Bringing the bucket back up was a lot harder than lowering it. After only three rotations, she stopped to rest her tired arms.

She heard a familiar voice behind her.

“Need some help?”

“Molly?” Looking over her shoulder, Coco saw her best friend. “Can you help me fetch some water? The handle is really hard to turn.”

“Sure.”

Winding up water from the well was a lot easier with Molly’s help. The two of them turned the lever together, taking the occasional break. Once the bucket was all the way up, Coco took hold of it.

She lowered it to the ground, taking care not to spill its contents. “Thanks, you were a big help.”

“Oh, it was nothing.” Molly stopped to catch her breath. “I was just passing by, on my way home. Just finished helping my brother herd the sheep.”

Coco wiped sweat from her forehead. “Don’t you hate doing that?”

Molly sighed. “Yeah, it’s so boring. That’s one of the reasons why I want to move to the capital. At least over there, I won’t have to herd sheep.”

“Does your papa approve?”

Molly frowned. “Sadly, no. He says there are few opportunities in the capital, or any city for that matter. He says there are a lot of bad men who prey on young girls.”

“My papa says that too. He makes the cities sound like scary places.”

“I get that they want to protect us. But we just need to be careful not to trust the wrong people, right?”

“I think so too. And who knows, you might even find someone in the capital who’s even better looking than your neighbor.”

Molly’s face flushed. “Why are you bringing him up all of a sudden? He may not be most handsome guy in the world, but he’s so nice to everyone!”

Coco leaned toward Molly. “Wouldn’t you miss him when you move to the city?”

Molly lowered her gaze. “His heart is already taken. I saw him with Lucy the other day. They looked like they were close.”

Coco patted Molly’s back. “That’s okay, the capital is a huge place. There are tons of hot guys there to choose from.”

Molly giggled. “Yeah, I bet. I envy you sometimes. At least you’ve been there before. You even got to watch the Combat Tournament.”

“I was only there for a few days, but those were some of the most memorable days of my life. There were so many muscular men to watch.”

“Lucky girl!”

“You’re the lucky one. Not everyone can have long, beautiful brown hair like yours. Anyways, it’s getting dark. I need to go home. My papa will be mad at me if I stay out too late.” Coco struggled to lift the bucket of water.

Molly helped her carry it. “It’s easier with two people.”

“Thanks again.”

The two of them made their way back to Coco’s house.

***

Hupo found himself standing beside Alana in a knee-deep swamp. Algae and rotting vegetation floated on top of the scummy water. Damp moss hung from the branches of the surrounding trees.

He swatted away a fly that buzzed by his head. “I recognize this place. This is the Misty Swamp.”

It was difficult to see beyond a few meters, because of thick mist. The sky was covered by dark clouds, casting a shadow over the swamp.

“Sorry, this is as close as I can bring us to the dungeon. It’s located in an area that we haven’t explored yet, so the teleportation spell couldn’t take us there.”

“Don’t worry about it. I enjoy exploring new areas. How long until we reach the dungeon?"

"Accounting for the typical number of enemy encounters, we should arrive there in approximately fifteen minutes."

"Alright, let’s get go-" Before he could finish speaking, the scene before him changed again.

A bright multicolored light flooded his field of view. This was not the first time he’d seen it. In fact, he’d seen it many times before, in his dreams. Since childhood, he’d had dreams of another world. They were always preceded by a flash of colorful lights. Next, he would be observing a scene from above. Sometimes he would witness something dramatic like an ongoing battle, but he was more likely to watch something as mundane as a villager going about their daily routine.

At first, the dreams were hazy and infrequent. As he grew older, they became more vivid and increased in frequency. By the time he was a teenager, they seemed very real and occurred almost every night. It wasn’t long before he realized that the dreams were showing him the same world. Since then, he had felt an insatiable desire to recreate that world. And the best way to do so was by creating it inside a video game. That game was World of Lorecraft.

This was the first time he’d seen the multicolored light while playing World of Lorecraft. He began to wonder if he was still in the game or if he was dreaming.

The light faded away and he found himself floating far above a village. Although it was night-time, the houses below were clearly visible. Many of them were on fire. He heard many cries and screams from the villagers below, who were being massacred by werewolves. Most of them were unarmed and fleeing for their lives. The few who were armed were using farming tools, such as shovels or pitch forks, as weapons. Against the werewolves, who were larger and better equipped, the villagers didn’t stand a chance.

Everything looked completely real. However, he knew he wasn’t physically present at the scene, because he couldn’t feel the heat or smell the smoke coming from the burning houses.

His vision blurred, and he found himself standing in the swamp again.

"Hupo? Can you hear me?"

"Sorry to worry you. How long was I out?"

"You were unresponsive for five minutes and forty-five seconds. What happened?"

"It's strange. I just saw -"

A loud noise buzzed inside his head. The whole world began spinning, faster and faster, until everything blurred together. His heart beat wildly in his chest and breathing became more difficult.

What’s going on? I’ve never experienced this before!

An intensely bright, multicolored light exploded, forcing his eyes shut.

***

"Wake up! Are you alright?"

Hupo recognized Alana's voice, but he had never heard her sound so worried, so upset. When he opened his eyes, he was kneeling in tall grass. The grass had a rich, earthy smell, which was surprising, given that smell wasn’t one of the perceivable senses in World of Lorecraft.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Raising his head, Hupo saw Alana's face, inches away from his own.

He stared at it in amazement. It looked too real.

The character models in World of Lorecraft were highly detailed and looked very realistic, but, up close, one could still tell that they were computer generated. But Alana looked as real as an actual human being.

Am I dreaming?

"Something doesn't seem right. I'm calling the Gamemaster." He stood and moved his hand to bring up the control interface.

Nothing happened.

He used the voice command for the control interface.

Nothing happened.

One last thing to try.

He pinched himself. “Argh!”

Yet again, the control interface failed to appear.

He drew his eyebrows together and began pacing back and forth.

If this is a dream, then shouldn’t I wake up after pinching myself? If I’m not dreaming, then I must still be inside the game. Is this happening to other players as well? Game sales may be affected by this issue and my company’s stock price might take a hit. There might even be lawsuits coming... No, snap out of it! I can’t be worrying about that right now. I need to focus on the immediate problem.

“This is bad. I’ve tried everything, but I still can’t bring up the control interface. Without it, we can’t even call the Gamemaster or log out of the game.”

"Let me try." Alana performed the same actions as Hupo. "I'm also unable to contact the game administrators. I've even tried using the home phone, but I've been disconnected from the home's network. Could this be a game glitch?”

“Even if there was a problem with the software, we should still be able to log out, because the ‘log out’ function is hardwired into the neural-helmet.”

“Maybe the neural-helmet malfunctioned.”

“That’s highly unlikely. Every neural-helmet is designed to automatically disconnect the user whenever any irregularity in its function is detected. And a neural-helmet malfunction wouldn’t miraculously enable me to smell the grass, feel pain when I pinch myself, or make everything appear more realistic. The sensations of smell and pain were never programmed into any virtual reality game in the first place, because the lack of smell and pain is an important reminder to players that they are inside a virtual world.”

“If it’s not a software or a hardware issue, then why can’t we log out?”

“I don’t know.”

“What should we do now?”

“First, we need to find out where we are.”

"I'm on it. Fly.” Alana rose into the air.

Hupo’s jaw dropped. He wondered how she was able to activate her skills without using the control interface.

If she can do it, then so can I.

Since there was no control interface available, he tried a different method to activate his skills - he looked within himself. After a period of introspection, he felt a light, fluttery feeling in his chest.

“Such overwhelming power…” He realized that he possessed a phenomenal power within himself.

The power was part of his very being. Instinctively, he knew exactly what to do to activate his skills, which were stored inside his memory.

He gripped the hilt of his katana and uttered the name of the skill he wanted to use. "Fiery Hurricane!"

The moment his katana left his sheath, flames engulfed it. He spun with explosive speed, unleashing a whirlwind of steel and fire. Everything within a fifteen-meter radius was blown away, creating a deep circular trench. Within a thirty-meter radius, the grassland was burnt to a crisp. The air was hot and thick with smoke.

He tried accessing his inventory. Normally, this was done by pressing an icon on the control interface. However, there was no control interface available, so he used his mind instead. He thought about what he wanted to retrieve. The first item that came to his mind was {Crystal Compass}. As if on cue, his hand extended into the air, disappeared into a pocket dimension, and then reappeared with a {Crystal Compass}. This was a single-use item that could teleport its user.

What if I wanted to put it back?

When he visualized putting the {Crystal Compass} back into his inventory, his hand moved to return it into the pocket dimension.

So that's how it works.

"I've finished surveying the surrounding area." Alana floated downwards.

"What did you see?"

"Mostly grassland. A village nearby is being attacked by werewolves. There's another group of werewolves observing the assault from a distance."

His skin tingled.

For a split second, his body tensed and his breathing paused. “The scene that you just described is identical to the one that I saw in my most recent vision.”

“What does that mean?”

“I can only think of two theories. Both of them sound equally implausible.”

“I’m sure you have good reasons behind each of them.”

She sure thinks highly of me.

“The first is that we’re still in World of Lorecraft, and there’s an issue with the software or hardware. But, as I explained earlier, there’s virtually no chance that a software or hardware malfunction could lead to our particular set of circumstances.”

“What’s your other theory?”

“My second theory borders into the realm of fantasy and science fiction.” Hupo paused before continuing. “I suspect that we’re no longer in World of Lorecraft. Everything I’ve experienced so far, since coming here, certainly supports that suspicion. This world looks and feels much more real than the one in World of Lorecraft. It’s as real as reality.”

“If we’re not in World of Lorecraft, then where are we?”

“We may have been transported to the world that I’ve been seeing in my dreams. I know it sounds crazy, like a plot straight out of a science fiction novel. But it’s the conclusion that I’ve arrived at after carefully considering all the information that we have.”

“I don’t think your latter theory is crazy at all. Anything is possible, including being transported out of the game to another world. Humans once thought that flying was impossible, but now they can travel to outer space.”

Hupo valued Alana’s opinion. In all the years they’d know each other, she’d always been brutally honest with him.

He let out a huge breath. “It’s good to hear that my theory isn’t completely crazy.”

“What should we do about the village?”

“If this world is as real as it appears, then those villagers are real people. If we don’t act soon, then they’ll all be killed. No matter the reasons for the attack, the werewolves are clearly in the wrong for attacking the fleeing villagers. But I’m hesitant to intervene in the conflict. Doing so may put our lives in danger. For all we know, the werewolves may be much stronger than we are. And, if we’re no longer in a game, then death is likely permanent.”

“We can always teleport to safety if we’re ever in trouble.”

Hupo’s eyes lit up. “That’s right! With your teleportation spell or my Crystal Compass, we can escape from a dangerous situation at any time.”

“I’ll support whatever decision you make.”

She’s always been so supportive. I couldn’t ask for a better assistant.

“Since we can always teleport out of harm’s way, I’ve got no more excuses for not saving the villagers.”

"If that's your wish, then I'll assist you."

"Deal with the werewolves in the village. I'll take care of the observers. They’re either back-up or the ones leading the attack. And remember, don't take any chances. Teleport back here if your life is ever in danger."

Alana placed her hands on her chest. "I'm deeply moved by your concern for my safety."

"Why wouldn't I be concerned? You're my partner."