After a few deep breaths failed to calm me, I hurriedly tore off my VR Headset and tossed it aside in a panic, grabbing the trash can next to my bed and dry heaving into it.

What the hell just happened?

A blinding white light and a spinning room were all that I could remember. The nausea wouldn't leave me, even though I hadn't eaten since before noon and had nothing left to give it.

I glanced at my alarm clock, the digital display embedded into my night-stand mirror.

7:33 PM

My stomach rumbled and I shoved my face into the bin again.

Had I really been Online for that long? Normally I'd at least take a couple of breaks for food or water throughout my gaming session. It hadn't felt like that long. Even so, it didn't help that lately it was getting harder to tell between reality and being Online, especially with digital worlds where the Time Flow Rate (TFR) was slower than that in real life. My current job at Subs N' Shakes had had me use an Online job simulator for orientation that lasted two Online weeks, only to come back to reality at the end of it with only two actual hours having passed. I was pretty sure I was really sitting in my room, but pinched myself for good measure and luckily, felt the sting.

I tried my best to calm my breathing, a method I used often for anxiety. After a few minutes I was finally able to put the bin down and lay back onto my twin-sized bed. Who knew it could be so exhausting to sit still for hours on end, practically hallucinating?

I reached onto my nightstand and grabbed my glasses, those annoyingly important things that made me scared every time I felt the thickness of their frames. Having just turned 18, I should not need such a heavy prescription. I knew it. My doctor knew it.

One of the many, many, many reasons I preferred to be Online. I had a list.

The crooked smile of Graz Black shone down at me from the digital display above my bed, an advertisement for the upcoming second season of the Tournament of Elders. He was a Sniper class, like me, and I tried to match his build as closely as possible. The man was not only the highest-level player in all CCO, but last year's Tournament Champion. What was even more impressive was that the tournament was a contest for clans to take part in.

But the Black Wolf only played solo.

I imagined, with some amount of shame, that at least two hundred views on the CCO official channel were from me alone, watching his incredible performance in the final few moments of last year's tournament where he single-handedly took down entire squads of enemy players without them even aware of his presence. I had tried to mimic some of the moves and techniques that he had done so gracefully, only to end up feeling like a clumsy oaf instead. Level aside, his skill was something else.

And I was his biggest fan, though I would never admit that to anyone else in Revolver-X. My parents already thought the action figure I had of him was weird and they didn't even understand what video games were. Fortunately, they weren't home very often, both on business trips to separate parts of the world and hoarding money that they didn't need. I didn't mind, however. That meant more time for me to leave the empty too-large house and my blurred vision behind and spend it with my friends in CCO.

I reached into the top drawer of my nightstand and pulled out my cellphone, checking to see if my parents had mentioned anything about coming home tonight. If not, I would have to withdraw some more money from their account in order to pay for the subway this weekend. There wasn't school for the next few weeks due to Thanksgiving break. It was my senior year, so I skipped my fair share of class already, but I still had things I wanted to do in town, people to see. I also tried to ignore it, but if I remembered how big and empty the house was, I had a hard time not letting my anxiety get the better of me.

0 Messages.

"That's odd," I thought to myself. "Nearly 10 hours of gaming and not a single message?"

I swiped through the menu and opened the app connected to the digital display above me, changing it from the default wave of advertisements to live television. An error message appeared.

"No connection found."

"You've got to be joking..."

I went back to my contacts and swiped down a few times until I got to the entry of my best friend, Ayami Yumiko.

Or Aya, as I called her.

I dialed, hitting another unconnected line and a dead end. I realized that my phone didn't have any service, something that never happened where I lived.

"Well great, maybe there's an outage."

My stomach rumbled, finally free of nausea and realizing how empty it was. Realizing I better make some dinner, I got up, slipped my useless phone into the pocket of my sweatshirt and headed downstairs.

Three floors. Three empty floors passed me by. One contained an indoor pool with the water always the perfect temperature, while another had a gym with equipment so unused and new that it looked like a store display. Why my parents even bothered filling the empty soulless box of a home when they were never even there, I had stopped asking.

I reached the ground level and headed down a hallway lined with expensive paintings from god knows where, and alcoves containing vases, statues, and all manner of artifacts from around the world that I never got to see in person. By this point I didn't mind, however. I had my own world, and they weren't invited.

Opening the fridge revealed nothing to eat so I tossed some pizza rolls into the microwave, hearing the lifeless ding as they finished. I climbed up onto a bar stool and tossed one into my mouth.

+5 Hit Points. -1% Speed

The words appeared in the bottom right corner of my vision.

"Well that was a useless boost."

Why would anyone want a food item that reduced your speed? Speed was hugely important in CCO. I reached out to grab another too-hot roll anyways, my hunger greater than my fear of the de-buff.

"Wait... What the..."

I blinked heavily, rubbing my eyes and squinting. The words slowly faded away.

"There's no way... It must just be because I was Online for too long. Yes, that's it."

It wouldn't have been the first time. There were many nights when my dreams and CCO were one, melding together in some sort of weird universe where I couldn't speak or run, but was still Phoenix, Sniper and leader of the rag-tag band of players from all around the world. I took a deep breath and ate another pizza roll.

Maximum Hit Points Reached. -1% Speed

I fell off the stool, my knee slamming into the overhang of the marble countertop. After a few words that I was glad my parents weren't around to hear, I tried to push myself up. It felt like moving through molasses.

"It can't be..."

I reached out to my menu system, just as if I were Online and felt it there.

I opened it and my eyes widened.

My mouth hung agape as I tried to process what was happening.

I reached my hands up to where my headset would be, feeling nothing but my shoulder-length, needing-to-be-washed black hair, not the violet color that my character was lucky to have. I double checked my menu, also finding there what I feared...

The log-out button was missing.

But who was I kidding? How was I supposed to log out of... real life? How was I even seeing this information in my vision? I took off my glasses, rubbed them on my sweater and replaced them upon my face. The menu was still there.

"This is ... impossible."

I closed my menu and ran, knocking over bar stools and slid down the hallway in my socks, stopping just in time to thrust open the sliding glass door and burst outside onto the second-floor balcony, inhaling the cold Northern California Autumn air in quick, panicked breaths.

Everything looked the same. The city lights shone up at me from beneath the hill in which my house was, though no there were no cars, exiting or entering the freeway below. It wasn't an apocalyptic scene like I was expecting but something was wrong.

"This all has to be a dream. I'm just exhausted from being Online for too long."

I decided that the best thing to do at this point was try and sleep it off...whatever it was. I went back inside and closed the balcony door behind me. I scooted my feet across the hardwood floor and headed towards the stairs. Not even pizza rolls sounded good right now. All I wanted to do was curl up in my bed, cover my face in my comforter and wake up tomorrow with full cell service and no menu system in my mind.

I started up the stairs, ignoring the temptation to check my status again. If I didn't look at it, it wasn't there.

Even though I could feel it.

The ground rumbled and the house shook.

I turned my head, one foot on the first step and one on the ground floor. Before I could even open my mouth in surprise, the front door burst open and armed soldiers entered my house. Wood shrapnel covered the entryway. The men hurried in, one after another, all of them wearing some sort of goggles and mask combo, with assault rifles gripped firmly in gloved hands. I turned to yell when a hand covered my mouth and pulled my back into the kitchen.

"Wt gr y dn", I tried to ask. At first, I tried to fight but then realized that he wasn't one of them. He was about my age, with shaggy brown hair and wore a white t-shirt and torn jeans on a lanky frame. He definitely wasn't a soldier.

The boy put a finger up to his mouth to shush me. He leaned to peek around the corner back into the hallway.

"They will kill you the second they see you," he whispered, his voice deeper than I expected. "Keep quiet and let's get you out of here. Deal?" He looked down at me, his blue eyes serious and intelligent, older and more knowing than his body would have suggested.

I nodded and kept quiet, ducking down next to the fridge as we waited and listened for the soldiers' footsteps.

"You two, upstairs. We'll check the kitchen." The voices of the soldier sounded muffled, almost electronic.

The boy grabbed my hand and as quietly as possible led me to the other side of the island while crouching. We ducked down behind it just as a soldier entered the kitchen. Their boots tapped loudly on the tile surface as they walked, pointing a laser attached to their rifle around the kitchen, a target scanning for me and I had no idea why.

Right as the light pointed away from us, the boy peeked up over the island and slid back down quickly, nodding to himself. He looked directly into my eyes and motioned towards himself with two fingers, a common CCO emote to follow. Rather than ask how he knew it, I just nodded. There were too many crazy things going on right now to focus on one of them.

Just like in a video game, the two of us silently rotated around the island, keeping to the opposite side of the soldier. Fortunately, he was taking his sweet time, allowing us to move quietly. Eventually the soldier exited the kitchen into the dining room, a deep male voice entering his comm system, "Kitchen's clear."

"Okay, we need to get to your roof," the boy whispered to me, as I followed him slowly towards a sliding-glass door that led out back.

"My roof? Why the roof?"

"It's flat, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Just trust me."

It wasn't like I had much choice, but I was getting frustrated.

"I will, but I want answers as soon as we're out of here."

"Deal."

As quietly as possible, we slipped into the back yard and rounded to the side of the giant house, crossing a matching outdoor pool, complete with a waterfall and hot tub.

"Man, you are loaded," the boy said, still quietly, eyes on the spotlights and lasers running through the house and silhouettes of soldiers seen through windows.

"It's not mine, it's my parents'," I said through struggling breaths. I felt as if my lungs were going to explode. All the squatting or running that I had done in the past few years was virtual.

"How old are you?"

"18, you?"

"19."

We stopped, looking at each other for a moment and nodding.

"How the hell did a couple of kids get into this mess?" I asked.

The boy shrugged. "Guess we're just lucky is all."

"What do you mean lucky? This sucks!"

He turned back to me again with a smile.

"You'll see."

We reached a part of the back yard where there was a flat surface on the side of the house and no windows, a straight shot up to the roof aside from the slight parapet atop it.

"Alright, perfect." The boy kneeled and pulled a backpack over his shoulder that I hadn't noticed he was wearing. He rummaged through it a few times, then zipped it up without taking anything out and put it back on.

"Okay Phoenix. Here's where things get interesting. Are you ready to have your life turned upside down?"

"You mean this isn't upside down already?" I asked, motioning to the house full of soldiers. "Wait... How did you..."

"Phoenix, Sniper Class, Level 31, Revolver-X Clan, 22nd place in last year's Tournament, user of the Administrator's Pearl." the boy looked into my widening eyes. "Ring a bell?"

"You're from...CCO?"

He nodded.

"Who are you?"

"That's not important, what is important is getting you out of here safely."

"But why me? Why are they after me?"

"Listen, we'll talk as soon as we're out of here. Just trust me."

"But..."

"Phoenix!"

I stopped talking and nodded. I didn't know why, nor did I have any other options, but I trusted him. I would get my answers eventually and I had to take solace in that.

The boy stood up straight and his eyes turned blue.

I gasped.

"Connect," he said.

From the ground up, the boy changed, lines almost like pieces of programming code ran up and down his body, forming and taking shape. Boots replaced his sneakers. Military pants replaced his jeans. A long black jacket with a front pocket slightly above a skull and crossbones emblem replaced his t-shirt.

The face of Graz Black replaced the boys.

"Holy shit," was all I could say.

"Yeah yeah, I'll sign you an autograph later. Now, open your...".

"The Black Wolf... here... at my house...".

The Tournament champion and most popular player in all CCO sighed, shaking his head. He had a mess of black hair, but that was tied back into a short ponytail. Low-profile night vision goggles rested on his head, one of the many rewards he had won that I was very jealous about.

"Open your menu, Phoenix."

I did so, hearing soldiers louder. They must have been in the kitchen now and would find the us in the back yard shortly. "You can call me Valys, by the way."

He ignored me "See the top option; Connect?"

I did. It was the only option that I hadn't seen previously when Online in CCO. It was new.

Graz breathed out, as if in reassurance. "Good. I thought so."

"Thought what?"

"I'm not the only one..."

Before I could ask any more questions, Graz waved his arms at me to hurry up, his eyes darting back and forth behind me. "Quick! They're coming out!"

"What do I do!?" I was trying to select the option like I had when I opened the menu, by simply willing it to open, creating the interaction with my thoughts. Nothing was happening though.

"You have to highlight it and speak it."

I stopped pushing hard on it with my mind and took a deep breath.

The kitchen door opened, and guards poured out.

"There they are! Shoot them!"

"Connect," I said.

Just like Graz, my 18-year-old frame faded away and Phoenix, the Revolver-X leading Sniper, stood in my place. I even was taller, and felt the muscles in my arms and legs, as well as the far more advanced bust beneath my shirt, something that the Online version of CCO never actually did quite right.

I checked my menu.

Graz's eyes went blue and a long, sleek, black rifle appeared in his hands. I copied him, selecting Equipment and finding my favorite sniper rifle sitting there waiting for me, a trustworthy and loyal friend.

I equipped it and it materialized into my hands, digitally forming with lines of code like when I had "Connected".

The soldiers behind us slowed to a halt, not sure what had just happened and even more unsure if they should shoot.

"Alright, Phoenix, let's see if all of that time spent watching me has paid off at all," Graz said, turning and lifting his rifle scope to his left eye.

Rather than feel embarrassed, I simply smiled. It was almost as if Connecting not only gave me the power of Phoenix, rather than Valys, but the confidence as well. Hell, even my eyesight was almost perfect now.

"How about you see if you can learn anything from me this time."