Alison roamed through the freezing forest for what felt like hours, after having watched that crazy fool leap to his death, she was very much thoroughly freaked out now.

Suddenly going from reality to…this, and then watching a man kill himself through game-like mechanics thinking it was still a game…It worked her up, and Alison did what she always did when something worked up her anxiety. Alison got to work.

Going from game-like menu to another, the answers came slowly but even more questions piled up over one another.

Glancing at her own UI, her online persona was being used.

Alice.

Just as if she had actually logged into the game she had co-funded but…

When she glanced around, she knew, this was not that game.

She didn’t give the production her full attention, but from the bits and pieces she remembered, she fully knew that the game and this…place, where two entirely separate entities.

“Maybe the cloth…maybe it altered our world along with the game’s code? No, no that’s too farfetched and makes no sense with how…that being used it.” Alison mused to herself, shuddering as she rubbed her shoulders with her just as freezing hands.

The memory came to her then, fresh as the dreams she’d have of it.

Standing amongst white-blue flames of pandemonium.

The city at night all around her, dark skies lit up by the very ground below it, both the light of modern humanity and the light coming directly from the pits of hell that were somehow blue.

Alison saw herself laying there terrified, petrified, as her childhood friend stood as the portal to that hell.

A young boy, one who had always kept to himself, she saw the pain in his eyes as anger took him over.

The anger of having to watch her be taken away by the local gangbangers.

Anger, which made fire.

Fire, which he lost control of.

That day, Alison thought she was dead, she truly believed Kyle was going to kill the both of them.

Until, a tear in reality opened, and the one she forever then forth called ‘That Being’ appeared.

An older Kyle, the resemblance so uncanny she just knew it was more than a blood relation.

Except, his hair was snow white, just like the tails and fox ears he also had.

His eyes, slits and silver, colder than the tundra that surrounded her now.

Alison would never forget what she saw that night.

As she then realized, coming back out from her moment of remembrance, tripping over and falling into the snow but managing to catch herself with both hands.

Alison stared down into the white dust, just as snow white as that being’s…

“Just as snow white…” She turned to look back the way she had come from, “No, no way.”

Lesser Demon [Level 73] has killed you utilizing [fallDamage(Vel,pVit,pStr,mW);] You have died! Death penalty (Unavailable [Minimum Level reached])

Oh, shit, there’s a level loss penalty.

Kyle realised as his world went black.

You are amongst the first to die due to unforeseen actions. Title unlocked [Mad man]: Deal damage to a monster or player 50 Levels above you. Respawning at nearest {Obelisk}.

Feeling then returned to Kyle’s hands before flowing up and into the rest of his body as sight also then returned to him. He opened his eyes to find himself standing on a raised platform of stone carved up with a very detailed design of a dragon, ram and lion wrestling one another to death.

Raising his gaze from the elaborate flooring, Kyle’s expression froze as he glanced the walled city up and down. Before him large walls of stone rose, not as high as the pillars of black, but high enough to be an awe-striking sight to spawn to.

“Boy…what…where did ye come from?” A man asked, appearing into Kyle’s sight from the side. Looking haggard and worse for wear, the man also seemed stupefied at what he had just seen.

“Huh? Wha-” Kyle began to say but paused as he noticed the small crowd of towns-people gathered about the pedestal and the city guard approaching them from the open gate ahead. “Shi-” Not waiting another moment, Kyle stormed through the crowd, rushing off back towards the forest.

Something’s wrong.

He thought, his eyes spanning the world around him.

Something feels…wrong.

Quickly glancing from person to person, from civilian to guard, then at the forest ahead as trees surrounded him once more.

I don’t understand, why? Why do I feel it?

He thought, a feeling he longed to escape filling him, that moment before he ran it had reached him.

Kyle ran, an expression of confusion and fear overtaking him as he dashed through the snow, finally slipping up and stumbling over. Falling face first into the snow, Kyle pulled himself up, wiping the white chilling powder from his face as the feeling…the feelings, left him slowly.

The feelings of confusion from the townsfolk.

Feelings of agitation and curiosity.

The feelings of wariness coming from the guards.

Feelings of duty and annoyance.

Kyle sensed them all, he’s always had ever since he was a child.

But when he played, he didn’t.

Online Kyle escaped those sensations…So…

Why?

He asked himself, standing back up and taking cover behind a tree.

Why do I sense them?

Glancing around the tree he saw the guards sizing up the pedestal with a short black obelisk at its centre, all the while the townsfolk rushed to explain what had just occurred.

This…it can’t be.

Kyle looked away and took a deep breath, calming himself, he allowed his body to drag along the tree’s bark and fall to the ground.

Think back, the fairy, I felt nothing…That player, Alice was it? I felt nothing too so…What is this?

Kyle thought, clutching his chest then as he glanced around the tree again.

Watching as the man from before pointed in his direction, and half the guards spread out, approaching his location now.

Shit, this isn’t a joke.

Chuckling to himself anxiously, Kyle quickly stood up and made it his goal to disappear, trudging through the forest in the opposite direction of town.

They know what I look like, they just saw a man appear out of no where from that…obelisk? They don’t look like they’ve ever seen it before either…Shit, what’s going on?

His heart racing, Kyle travelled for long freezing minutes until he no longer saw a guard in sight. He came to a stop right then.

“This…Fuck, this isn’t good.” Kyle mused, glancing around himself to only see trees, bushes and snow before looking up at the sky from where he’d come. “This…isn’t a joke is it?”

Long moments passed as he stared and stared, expecting a response, but getting none.

“No, it’s no joke.” He told himself, “I’ve never felt it before, not in a game, not in a chatroom.” He then glanced down at his own palms. “Everything seems more than just real…I understand now, it is real. Holy fuck, this is real.”

This sole realization dawning on him like a cannonball broke his chest wide open, sending him reeling back into the snow and onto his ass.

Eyes wide, his gaze fell to the snow.

Silence befell Kyle, he did not speak, did not think, he just stared at the snow for a long silent moment.

When his expression of confusion turned to calm.

His wide eyes, narrowing, calculating.

Smiling, Kyle fell back into the snow fully, grinning.

Looking back into the sky, Kyle laughed, whole-hearted he laughed.

“You know, I’ve read stories, I’ve watched…But for it to actually happen? What the fuck is this? Some shitty third-rate novel?” He asked the sky, his laughter fading away as did his smile.

Yet his calculating eyes remained, focused upon the clear blue.

“I guess, I avoided this game for too long, haven’t I?” Kyle asked himself, sighing as he turned over and grasped a fist full of snow. “Fine.”

Suddenly pulling himself back up into standing, Kyle began squashing the snow in between both palms, “I’ll play it.” He said, suddenly throwing the snowball off into the distance. Grinning, “I’ll play this new game of life.” He mused.

“A guy with no memory of his childhood, a guy with a strange power. Does that make me the main character?” He pondered, “Nah, can’t be that easy.” He then chuckled, “I’ll not get ahead of myself.”

Turning around, Kyle gazed off where he had wandered from. “First, I need to situate myself. The others…are they here too? This land…I need more information and…” Popping his neck, “I need equipment. So, where does a good for nothing wanted man, with nothing to call his own, go for equipment and information?...”

Kyle smiled, “Well, this ought to be fun.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOXZkm9p_zY

Music played so loud that the speakers they came out of shook and shuddered, as he finished putting on the full body suit, then the helmet. Justin stretched his shoulders then sat down, stretching back and forth his one leg. The other's pants being empty and dragging as a prosthetic leg lay on the floor next to the large tub of slime-filled glass he sat over the edge of.

“Well, they come in extra-large, but not minus I guess.” He chuckled to himself, before glancing back into the slime. “Here it goes, Dana, music off.” He said.

“Background music turned off.” A robotic female voice said right after the music stopped playing.

“Dana, dim lights.” Justin said, and the room’s lighting dimmed.

He glanced about at his room as it did, “No more looking at you while I play, now I go in for real.” He thought out loud, ecstatic with his first try at a full dive VR system.

Justin pulled his one leg inside, then slowly lowered the rest of himself into the slime.

Sinking down into it, his helmet fully closed up and pressure left his suit. The tub then slowly closed up around him, sealing him off from the world.

“Dream, Online.” He said, and darkness filled his eyes.

Darkness surrounded him, the slime having turned pure black, then fading back to normal.

Justin lay asleep, seemingly so.

But in reality, as his body lay limp, it was but an empty shell now.