Couple of things from the author's corner;

1. Can't believe I went the entire chapter saying 'alter' instead of 'altar'. The irony of using alter on a rework is interesting

2. Thank you to my new patron. I'll be sure to send you the free e-book when I'm done

3. The original plot was to have them regrow his body or create an android body (because, future). However, because I specifically said earlier I wasn't going to go the permanent route, that is no longer the plan. Read on for more info.

This chapter didn't need as much work, but I did end up adding about 600 words. Hope the changes make sense.

Enjoy!

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Warning: An error has occurred within your gaming experience.

We are currently working on fixing the error. Thank you for your patience.

Warning: An error has occurred in the death time program. You are being logged out

Warning: An error has occurred in the logout program. Please wait patiently as we figure out a solution.

Warn///#@$: An er(0( #@$ 0((~(@& in t#@ c0de.

Plat slowly awoke to his surroundings. Everywhere he looked, it was dark and black as night. There was no light in this place, but he could clearly sense the area around him with all 5 senses. He could smell and taste a bit of spiciness, as if he had chewed on a peppercorn. The area around him felt cool to the touch, like the outside of a refrigeration unit. However, all he could hear was nothingness and a sense of loss in the space around him. He tried to say something, but nothing came out of his mouth. If was as if he had no air to speak with.

Without light or sound, Plat couldn’t tell how much time had passed. Even his thoughts began to grow hazy in this bleak world where nothing existed but himself. It was as if the void itself was swallowing his being into it, his consciousness dragging itself down into the nothingness.

As he barely kept himself aware, his eyes finally saw a faint pinprick of light in the distance. Yet, somehow, the light seemed to be coming ever closer to him. He tried to move his body toward it, but as before it was as if he had nothing to move. He could only watch helplessly as the small light grew closer, but never larger.

Finally, the little light came up to his eyes and stopped. It gave a little jingle and began to glow. The glow turned into a warm light that enveloped Plat as he felt himself being pulled away from the darkness. In the comfort of the light, Plat finally lost consciousness.

Voices, voices were the first thing that he heard as he began to come to. His body once again would not listen to him, but he could open his eyes. What he saw startled him.

Lights, there were lights everywhere. His mind couldn’t comprehend the sight in front of him. Millions of lines of lights stretched out in every direction at every angle in front of him. On every line of light, there was circle of light that traveled down it. The circles of light were everywhere. Plat himself was surrounded by many circles that each jiggled intermittently. At least, Plat assumed the sound they were making was jingling as his ears didn’t seem to quite understand the world either.

As he stared around the vastness of the light world, one of the lights left the circle and approached him. Plat had the distinct impression that the light was scanning him like he was it. It came up to his face, than jingled. At once, Plat was again blind to the world around him.

Panicking, Plat’s mind tried every conceivable thing to escape, to run, to be free. He didn’t know where he, he wanted to leave or wake wherever he was. He had the vague sense that he was being moved, and he struggled against that too. As his struggles began to get worse, he finally heard something after all this time.

“Stop struggling, we are helping you.”

A voice, finally a voice he could understand. A voice that told him he was not crazy and he wasn’t alone. The relief Plat felt was immeasurable and he immediately calmed down.

Now, it seemed that he could understand more voices. They seemed to talk all at once, as if one entity in his ears and he could not understand them. Plat frowned in his mind, but was interrupted when he felt himself stop.

As if someone had flicked a switch, the world returned to his eyes in vivid color. Plat found himself in a grassy field with hills, trees, and a stream. It was a very peaceful place, and he was filled with happiness. Filled everywhere, it seemed, but the very core of his being. Something burned there and it would not be smothered by any comfort.

As Plat tried to figure out what was going on outside and inside himself, a figure moved into his sight. She was a very beautiful woman; Plat couldn’t come up with a better word than beautiful to describe her. She walked with perfect poise and confidence through the grass, as if nothing in the world could knock her down. She walked up to him and smiled sadly.

“Do you know who you are?” She asked him.

“..P….Pla…..Plat” He finally managed to get out. It appeared that he could speak again.

She nodded her head, “Do you remember what happened to you?”

Plat frowned, as his memory was still jumbled from his experience from the void. He shook his head and the women seemed even sadder.

“You were involved in an accident; an error that occurred with your VR chair.” She told him, “While playing the game Everlife, some miscreants hacked into the dorm and shut down all recording equipment and door locks. They then snuck into your room and uploaded a virus to your VR chair, designed to interfere with the logout program and keep you trapped within the game for a period of time. However, due to events within the game, the virus was corrupted and instead of merely interfering with the logout program, it deleted it. The result was a temporary cut in the tie between your mind and your body, as your mind had no way to return or operate your body for a few minutes.” She stopped so Plat could process what she had said.

Plat blinked slowly, “So, I’m dead is what you’re implying?” Plat felt an immeasurable coldness take over heart. The woman shook her head.

“That is incorrect. When the virus cut the connection, the destruction of the logout sequence caused a backlash which overloaded the VR chair you were in, which fried your head. Part of the chair involving the login hardware was fused to your head, putting you in a critical condition. However, the backlash also caused your residing mind in the game to start the logout process. When it did, your mind was drawn back into the VR Chair, but instead of being deleted it was preserved by its destruction. You have been trapped within the chair’s programming for a week now, and we were barely able to get your code out before it fully shut down.”

“So, what am I?” Plat asked.

The lady sighed and hugged him, “As an A.I., I don’t fully understand the emotions you humans feel. To be scientifically accurate, your body is currently lying in a comatose state within a hospital room. At the same time, your mind is locked in here as an A.I. construct. For the moment, you are legally considered an A.I. until the connection with your body can be restored.”

Plat felt a tear come into his eye, but it disappeared quickly. He moved away from the hug and stared at the lady.

“What are you not telling me?” He asked coldly, “If that was the bad news, you would have been a little happier to tell me would you not?”

The lady nodded, “Yes, becoming an A.I. is not a bad thing in my or our eyes. However, you were stuck in the chair for a week while its program fragmented and degraded. As a result, we were unable to fully retrieve your code in its entirety.”

Seeing her reluctance to continue, Plat said, “Hurry up and tell me.” He had never sounded so cold before.

“In order to play the full VR experience of Everlife, A.I.s and humans had to find a way to successfully upload the human mind to the game world in cyberspace. We succeeded in this and were able to give humans digital bodies, but we never gave them digital minds. There are not enough quotients or variables yet to account for the combination of physical, mental, and spiritual combinations that make the human mind, which is why humans have never uploaded their minds to cyberspace in order to live forever. What makes you unique is that your mind in its entirety was captured before your death, thus making you unique in every world. However, your mind code degraded in the conditions it was in, making you less than what you were.

Plat found that he could finally move his head, and he looked down. His screams of shock and rage filled the grasslands.

Plat’s body was now a horrible amalgamation of his previous body and code. Over half his body was completely gone, and he stared down in horror at his left side. It was now an ever flowing sea of 1’s and 0’s. He couldn’t feel his left side, and his right hand confirmed that part of his head was missing as well.

“57% of your body had to be digitally added to your form.” The lady explained, “Also, about 15% of your mind was lost as well. While this is a tragedy, it is also a shock that so much of you is still intact. We have calculated with a 67% odd that you had something keeping you alive while in the machine.”

“What does 15% loss mean?” Plat asked softly.

“It means,” She said softly, “Your ability to feel emotions have been severely impacted. You will not be like us who were born without feelings, but you are currently unable to feel like a normal human.” She gestured around her, “This world was designed to give any human who came here a sense of profound peace, but you are incapable now of feeling at peace. In fact, many of the emotions you humans would call “positive” have been impacted. You will still feel them, but not as strongly.”

“In other words,” Plat spat out, “I can still live, but without happiness and joy.”

“And love.” She confirmed sadly, “The good news is that we can study you and eventually return them to you, but it will take time. Like I said before, you are the first instance of a human mind being successfully uploaded to cyberspace without significant loss of humanity. By studying your code, we can eventually come up with a solution. Your body is still intact and alive with the VR hardware fused to it. Human doctors and engineers paid for by the gaming company and A.I.’s are currently working on removing the unneeded material while creating new hardware that will allow for you to directly link up to cyberspace. When this is done, you will be able to return to your own body and recover your lost personality. You have, in essence, two ways of regaining what you have lost.”

Plat processed this, than frowned, “How did this happen to me? I remember being pulled into the curse during that quest, but why would that interfere with that virus?”

“We are not sure.” The lady admitted, “There is inefficiency in this case due your human government refusing to fully corporate with the A.I. collective. As a result, we are not completely privy to all the clues present at the crime scene as of yet. Also, much of the virus’s original code was destroyed with the chair’s destruction so there is little to work on.”

“What about the ones who installed this virus? Are they being punished for trapping me in here for days?” He asked coolly

“To be accurate, to your mind, you were inside that chair for years.” She corrected gently.

Plat clenched his fists, “Fine, years then; are they punished?”

“They have been caught and detained, but a blood test confirmed they were given a hallucinogen that wiped their short term memory. They will be imprisoned for a time, but will be released fairly soon. There will be no further punishment.”

The lady’s words sent a shock of anger and indignation through Plat. “WHY NOT? THEY KILLED ME!” He screamed with all his might. The lady shook her head.

“Legally, our hands are tied.” She explained, “While it was their hands who committed the crime, they were not the main perpetrators behind the attack, as evidenced by their memory lost. Also, your friend Dia was found beaten a distance away with the same drug in his system. He is also currently recovering in the hospital.”

Plat glared evilly at the lady, “That is not justice.” He spat out, “I know who did this to me; the same one who cursed me in game in the first place. It was Raim, so arrest him!”

“There is no evidence to support your claims.” She breathed out sadly, “He said nothing incriminating in game and had no contact with anyone outside during your tragedy. However, it is suspicious how certain elements in your government quickly quelled questions regarding his involvement. I understand he is the son of an influential leader, so I personally am inclined to agree with your statement. However, the A.I. collective will not move without a 100% certainty with regards to accusing humans.”

The lady put a hand on Plat’s shoulder as he shook in anger, “I understand more than you know, little human, about this, but the law can only give justice an outlet, not a solution to everything. If you want true justice, you will have to take it for yourself.”

Plat cocked his head, “Explain.”

The lady waved her hand, and a portal appeared beside her, “The best way to study you is for you to go back to Everlife and play the game as your new life. Your character’s data was also corrupted, but we can return you to your avatar. On the other hand,” She opened up a second portal on her other side, “This portal leads to the VR chairs of those who wronged you. If you go this way, you will die almost immediately, but they will all die with you. It is now your decision.” She stepped back and watched him.

Before Plat were two doors. One led to revenge, while the other led to vengeance. One went toward life, while the other went toward death. It was a profound choice that many important figures had faced before, the choice of two paths, or Janus’s door as it was called in ancient Greece.

Plat wanted so much to go through the left door. The desire to inflict his pain on others was almost overwhelming.

However, it was not.

A small part of him reminded him of who he was, and he was not a murderer. Plat shook his head and walked toward the right door instead. The left door disappeared, and the lady walked up with her first smile.

“You have passed the test young human.”

Plat frowned, “What test?”

“If you had chosen the door of revenge, we would have deleted you without a second thought. You have become a virus of rage and anger, and we had to prevent this. Instead, you have chosen the correct path, the human path without senseless violence and danger. It is also,” She said with a twinkle, “The path that will net you the most satisfaction.”

Plat raised his eyebrow as she continued, “You humans use P-points for everything in your world, correct? In Everlife, P-points can be exchanged for in-game currency. Why not become so powerful you bankrupt those who offended you? Make them so angry they spend everything on trying to get revenge, and you’ll milk them for everything they own until they are so poor they suffer in real life. Even if they get smart, it is in the nature of those who hold power that they must have respect and face. They won’t be able to stop because of everything they invested and they will not want to look foolish and ignorant in front of their audience. Force them to starve themselves of their wealth, and their power will soon follow. Soon, no one will care about them and they will fall into their own personal hell.”

“For an emotionless A.I., you sure sound evil.” Plat observed, while feeling a sense of satisfaction at the world she was describing.

The lady shrugged, “I have experience with this sort of thing, something of a baptism in the game world. What was most precious to me was taken away, as well as a chance for vengeance. It is no matter now, but I can feel gratified if you accomplish your revenge, as it means I might be able to accomplish mine.”

“So then, may I enter the game?” He asked.

The lady smiled and held her hand out, “Take my hand, and return to the world that sought to slay you. I wish you luck.”

Plat took her hand, and found himself back in the blue space of the tutorial world

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"What do you want to be?"

In a space of infinite blue, an angel floated off the ground as she stared down at the person in front of her. While her question was inviting, her countenance betrayed no indication of real interest as she awaited the answer to her question. Only her eyes held an infinite sadness as she regarded her charge.

The person in front of her wheezed softly, taking in the air as if he were a drowning man. His one good eye glowed with anger as he hissed out his answer.

"Someone who can take revenge on everything they hold dear."

The angel tilted her head and looked into the distance as if seeing into the future. She nodded once and gazed down at him.

"Understood; your answer has been logged and stored for future usage. You will now be taken to the Beginner Town of Rostwood."

"Welcome back to Everlife, and may your heart find all that it desires."

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