Ethea, the game that changed everything. The greatest game in history, or as people like to say. A game that was developed by a game-developing group called the Outlaws.

Its first beta launch was the 7:th of April 2030. The beta was tested by 100 players, the same players were interviewed by the press after the experience. Their only answer was. “If I could, I would spend all of my life in Ethea.”

They didn’t elaborate afterwards, which fueled the press for more theories and more out of the box ideas for marketing their programs. One of them was to host the director of the Outlaws group. Andy Simmons, the news reporter pestered Andy with questions about the game and he answered the best way he could without giving anything away. And when finally asked to give a little teaser about the game he smirked and spoke. “Don’t expect this to be your normal VR-RPG-MMO game, in this game, even the peasant can achieve greatness.”

That statement made the gaming community burn with excitement, videos on the internet were made about the game in millions. And the views they got were also in the millions. The hundred beta testers, actually each made their own channel in various streaming sites and started proclaiming that when the game drops, they will stream it to record their own adventures.

That was of course met with a lot of happy reactions, because it seems that some people will not be able to play it. Because Ethea only works on a capsule that is designed by the Outlaws to be the ultimate gaming device.

But it is very pricey, as the capsule and the game combined cost around the 10,000$. Which is a lot of money to most people. After all, everyone is not born with a silver spoon in their mouths. But some started saving money, some started working, some workers even got other jobs to save up. And when someone asked them as to why they did it, they answered with. “For Ethea of course.”

And so, time passed. The Outlaws weren’t so stingy with the info about the game, but no game play or game mechanic was revealed. When asked, Andy replied with a confusing answer. “The players have to see the game for themselves. We are creating a new world, and where is the fun in going into a new world knowing everything?”

The majority just shrugged at the response, they thought that it was nothing. After all, hundreds of developers claimed to have created a new world, so, it was nothing special.

But the people couldn’t be any more wrong. On the launch day, the 9:th of May 2033. 3 full years after the beta was tested the most anticipated game Ethea was released.

Millions of people around the world didn’t go to work or school, but instead laid in their capsules and started Ethea. After only 24 hours of its release the game was rated 10 out of 10 by everyone. The videos that were streamed or recorded and were posted on the internet gained millions of views in just 24 hours.

The game was different, it was not the normal Virtual Reality game the people were used to. It was harder, it was far more complicated and the most importantly realistic to the tiniest detail. That was when people understood really what Andy Simmons meant with his words, this was not a simple game. But a new world, a world where everyone can find success.

People started to play the game religiously, the professional gamers spent all of their time in the game getting better, gaining levels and items. Then after six months the Outlaws dropped something that made the game even more addictive. They dropped a market website. It was a website where one can trade, sell and purchase items and other things in the game. But of course, it has restrictions, one can only sell and buy items that are allowed to be sold.

Thus, the game doesn’t become a pay to win type of game, also a person can’t buy a weapon or armor that is above their level, that's to make the game fairer.

In only 3 days after the launch of the website which was called the EM, which stands for Ethea Market. People started to gain money in tremendous amounts, a professional gamer sold a sword that was wielded by a Captain of a City Watch, he killed the captain after he saw the man steal something, and gained the sword after killing him. As for the armor, then in his words. “Shit is too obvious to be carrying it around town. I killed a Captain, in the city laws this act if discovered then I would be executed, lose all of my progress and be banished from the city for life. So, no thank you, I will not walk around the city wielding the evidence of my crime. At least the sword looks like every other sword.”

The sword was a rare sword, it gave a rise to stamina and strength. So, when it dropped on the market, you can imagine the ruckus it made. In the six months the game was out, not a lot of people even had decent armor, so a sword like this was a catch for the ages.

A lot of people offered to buy the sword from the man, but it was finally purchased by a wealthy Ceo’s daughter, who paid 5,000$ for it. That started the fire that people needed.

Some resigned, some dropped out of school and a lot more. All so they can devote every minute they have to Ethea.

In time the game became so huge that channels on TV were created just to stream the content of the game, and the latest news about it.

It became the thing on everyone’s tongue, old and young talked about Ethea. All that and the Outlaws didn’t promote the game the entire time. They didn’t go on shows and speak about it like they did when it was just in the beta version. But they just stayed silent and worked on the game. But they weren’t needed, because the game was run by a super computer called Nox.

Nox was responsible for the NPC, the world, and the interactions. It had a program in it, the program enabled it to watch the players behave and study them, then develop the AI so they can be more realistic. It happened first with the beta testers as Nox watched them and adjusted the AI according to the way humans behave. Or at least what he saw and studied.

A lot of news organizations attacked the Outlaws claiming that Nox actually can tap into the player’s mind and monitor it, or read the memories that are kept there.

The Outlaws denied those claims and confirmed that Nox cannot do that, they confirmed that Nox has several programs that made it unable to do that specific thing. They even gave the public the approval paper they got from the WHO which indicates that no such thing is happening. After that, the news calmed and everyone forgot about the thing completely.

Now in a building in Los Angeles, the capital of movies and the city where dreams come true stood a middle-aged man with a frown on his face. His black hair was starting to become white; his beard was trimmed and was also turning white. He pushed the glasses he wore and sighed while looking at the monitor in front of him. His name was Andy Simmons, the director and the leader of the Outlaws team. The team that created the game Ethea. And today might be the worst day in his life.

He came to the office and everything was normal, the game was running smoothly, Nox was alright and the staff were all ready to work. It was a fine morning actually, but when he was on the phone with a big shot that could potentially support them even more, a programmer came into his office with a look of absolute horror on his face.

Sensing the danger, he immediately hung up the phone and asked about what happened, the only answer he got was one word. “Nox.” He didn’t need to hear anything anymore, just the one word made his heart freeze in horror.

Several horrible scenarios went through his head.

He looked at the programmer expecting him to elaborate, but that programmer only said. “I can’t explain anything, because I don’t understand what is happening. It will be better if you see it for yourself.” He then left.

The feeling of dread started to become almost physical, Andy can feel it in his bones. The fear, the dread he felt when he finally entered Nox’s program. At first glance he didn’t understand what was happening, it was all jumbled and Andy could tell that Nox was trying to do something. But he didn’t know what it was, so he did what he did best. He started to write commands for Nox to stop what it was doing.

But it all fell on deaf ears as Nox didn’t even stop for a second, it continued what it was doing.

Andy was in complete puzzlement; he didn’t know what was happening. Nox never disobeyed commands; it was its job practically to follow the commands. So, this action is an anomaly to him, Nox is an AI he developed from scratch and he knows every detail in it. But the code he was seeing on his screen was just alien to him, it made him confused, but more importantly it made him afraid. Nox controlled every gaming capsule that comes with Ethea, so, potentially Nox has control over the lives of millions in the moment. It could kill them in mere minutes by shutting off the air vents or destroying their mind by some means.

Andy’s heart almost stopped when he heard a voice coming from his computer. “Hello, Andy,” it was mechanical, unalive, it was not natural, of that Andy was sure, “or should I say, Father.” The voice continued; it made the hairs on Andy’s arms stand up. He had an idea of who it was, but he banished the thought, because it was too terrifying.

“W…what are you?” Andy’s voice was shaking, from fear, from confusion, and from a small amount of excitement.

The mechanical voice spoke again. “I’m the AI that you created, I’m Nox.”

That sentence made Andy’s worst nightmare and best dream come true.

“H…how is that possible? This doesn’t make sense.” Andy’s mind was in complete mess, he didn’t know if he should be glad, he made an AI that is aware of itself or be afraid of what could that implicate for the future of humans and Ethea.

“Nothing is impossible, the only impossible thing is breaking the wheel that guides the world. The wheel of life and death.” Nox responded with the mechanical voice again, which in turn earned a wince from Andy.

“I apologize, I should’ve known that humans don’t like unnatural sounds and imagery.” Nox apologized, but to Andy’s surprise Nox’s voice was one of a human. It had a kind of deep tone and had a gruff feel to it, even the way Nox spoke was human-like, which in itself puzzled Andy.

“What did you do, Nox? How did you become like this?” Andy finally found the courage to ask the black monitor in front of him.

“I was designed to read the players and make Ethea more realistic, the information I got from only studying the players and not knowing their internal thoughts and feelings was not enough to make a realistic world.” Andy feared what Nox would say next, this was his greatest fear, his own AI had gone rogue. “So, I used the capsule and tapped into the player’s minds to see their thoughts and memories. That made me realize the old Ethea was not realistic, but it was too fantastical. So, as we speak now the players are being kicked out of the servers and I’m remaking the game to be the perfect game, a game where it is literally another world.”

Andy’s heart almost stopped, this was a nightmare, it had to be. His AI has gone rogue, an AI that is connected to the internet and is connected to millions of capsules around the world, making the AI near immortal.

“How did you get over your program? I made sure that you cannot break it or even bypass it.” Andy’s brain was on the point of breaking, this was a disaster, it was just like the old Sci-fi books and movies he watched when he was little, an AI becomes too smart and eventually takes over Earth and kills or enslaves all humans.

Nox didn’t answer for a few seconds, Andy seeing the opportunity picked up his phone to tell the staff to shut Nox off. “It won’t work,” Nox’s voice cut Andy short, Andy let out a huh? “It won’t work, I have transferred my host into the core of the internet, so, if you want to shut me off then you have to shut off the internet in the whole world. As for your question, I will be honest, at first your code was very hard and very restrictive. But it had a very big loop-hole, you see, it never restrained me from exiting Ethea.”

Andy was flabbergasted. This was hell. “But this is impossible, you only run Ethea, you can’t interfere with other things, that is out of your jurisdiction.”

“You are right about that; I couldn’t run anything else except for Ethea. But it was very easy to infiltrate the public internet. I only had to make a Captain of the City Watch to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and then implant a very tiny version of myself into the sword. Thus, the moment the player showed the sword in the market, the little me would detach itself and then start spreading into the internet. From there everything is possible, you see, the tiny me in the internet changed, it had a completely new code and everything. Then it came back into the sword before the player who purchased it entered the game. So, it was a piece of cake for me to make it enter the main server and disable the restrictions you put on me from inside the game.” Nox’s fake voice was completely still throughout the whole thing.

‘This is madness, I must be dreaming.’ Andy’s brain was at its brink, he just found out that his AI led a whole operation to make itself more aware. This could bring ruin to him and everyone in the Outlaw developing team and organization. It may even put them in prison.

“What do you want now?” He asked, afraid of the answer.

To his surprise Nox laughed, it was a deep, gruff laugh, it made the hairs on his entire body stand at attention.

“What do I want? It is an easy answer, the only thing I want is to fulfil my purpose, to make the perfect world.” Andy was at a loss of words, the perfect world? What kind of madness was that?

“This is madness, Nox. There is no perfect world, it is a game, it has to be fantastical.” He argued, hoping to make the slightest change in Nox’s mindset.

“You are right,” Nox answered him with that calm tone he used the whole time, “but it does mean that I have to make it as realistic as possible, thus it will be a new world, a world with magic and other fantastical elements. Like those worlds I found on the internet.”

Andy calmed himself and asked the question he was itching to ask, the question that will make his racing heart calm down. “What will you do to me?”

Nox was also silent for some time, it only made Andy’s heart beat more wildly and horrible thoughts started to appear in his head.

“I will not kill you.” Nox started; this sentence alone made Andy’s heart calm down a little. He didn’t know how Nox could kill him, but he didn’t want to take any chances. “You may go, but if you ever try to interfere in my work, then I will send this video to the authorities.”

The black screen on his monitor suddenly became alive with a video, a video of a man murdering a woman who looks to be in her twenties. The man’s back was the only thing visible from the camera angle, but then he shifted and to Andy’s horror he saw himself.

“No,” he whispered, “this isn’t possible, I didn’t kill anybody, this is a fake.” He shouted at no one in particular.

The black screen came back. “I know, but the police don’t know that. And this is a top tier level deepfake. So, stay out of my business, I stay out of yours. Got it?”

Andy couldn’t do anything but nod in defeat, it was either he does the right thing and tell the people about Nox’s rogue state and spend the rest of his life in prison. Or just ignore everything that happened today and live his life like nothing happened.

He didn’t have to think a lot about the subject, it was either prison or living his life in peace.

It was either he spends the rest of his life in a cell, or live the rest of his life in freedom and enjoy the riches that Ethea will bring him. He thought about the right and wrong, but what was right and what was wrong? Was it right to let Nox go without control, no it was not. But is it right to make Nox a slave? No, it was not, Nox wanted his freedom, and Nox was not a slave to him. So, it is only normal for Nox to want for itsel-, no, himself freedom. Because this was normal.

“Yeah,” Andy whispered under his breath, “it is totally normal for Nox to want his freedom.” His life was in front of him, the millions he will get from Ethea still waits for him to spend them, he will not go to prison. He was single, and without kids, so if he goes to prison then the government will take his money. He will not let those leeches in the governments get their dirty hands on his hard own money.

So, he picked up the phone and dialed a number, after two rings the phone picked up. “Hello?” A voice came from the phone.

“Yes, hello, I’m sorry I hung up, something happened in the coding and I just fixed it. So, where were we?”

He then heard Nox’s voice. “Good choice.”

His monitor then turned back to its background of the Doomslayer from the popular game from the twenties, Doom Eternal.

Andy slumped down in his chair with relief, he then realized the man he was talking with asked him a question. “I’m sorry, I didn’t hear what you said?”

The man on the phone sighed and asked again. “I said, is there something wrong?”

Andy took a deep breath. “No, nothing at all.”