"So are you going or not?" Soze asked when Loran failed to log out after a few seconds.

"Something's wrong, the usual logout command isn't working for some reason."

"Uh, I can't log out either," Alexx decided to try after seeing his friends' confusion and faced the same problem. As each of them tried to log out, all five were unable to do so. Loran had given the command over a dozen times when a blue notification screen appeared before him.

[COMMAND {LOGOUT} HAS BEEN DISABLED BY ADMIN]

'What the hell is this?' He thought, confused and slightly shocked.

Soon, the same message had appeared before each of them.

"Okay, if all of us are seeing this it can't be an individual problem," Soze noted, "is the game glitched or something?"

"It can't be," Loran said, "the logout function is coded into the AetherGear itself, it shouldn't be interacting with the game code directly, or at least not in a way that would corrupt the code."

"Well what else could it be," Yang said, a little louder than she intended.

"Are we stuck?" Alexx asked.

"Everyone calm down," Loran said. "Let's try the Eject Code."

The AetherGear had several systems to ensure user safety, if any of those systems were triggered the headset would be forcibly powered down. The Eject Code was a simple series of words and numbers that users could access in the event they felt something had gone wrong with the system. Additionally, this system was hard-coded into the AetherGear's drivers; it couldn't be altered without immediately rendering the device inoperable. Plenty of programmers had tried for years now, either for malicious reasons or for bragging rights, but so far none had succeeded. Some had even started to theorize that the code was integrated into the hardware somehow and could only be removed through physically modifying the headset.

"I don't remember what the code is," Alexx said, slightly panicked.

"It's universal," Loran had long since memorized the Eject Code. "Everyone just repeat after me."

"AetherGear Emergency System Shutdown 00301," Loran said and the others repeated. A new message appeared.

[EXECUTING]

[...]

[ERROR]

[COMMAND CANNOT BE EXECUTED]

After reading those lines Loran's confusion only grew deeper. The Eject Code was supposed to be the final safety net, as unbreakable as the laws of physics. If that failed...

"This...." Loran tried to think, but too many questions were filling his head. He was snapped out of his stupor by the error screen closing, and a new, golden screen appearing before all of them, with text scrolling up from the bottom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Attention Players

My name is Doctor Ronald Zheng, the creator of New Eden Online.

If you are seeing this message that means that over 1,000,000,000 players have officially started playing NEO.

I'm quite proud to see how well the game is starting.

With that said, a few of you have probably noticed that the logout function and even the emergency Eject Code have both been disabled.

This is not an accident.

As for why I have done this, I suppose you could call it my next, and last, major project.

If you want to know my reason for doing all of this, explaining through a simple announcement wouldn't be sufficient, so come find me for an adequate explanation.

Oh, and do be careful.

In this game, dying has rather serious consequences.

There's no going back now, and even if there was, why would you want to.

Welcome to New Eden Online.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Loran continued to stare at the golden panel for a moment before it closed on its own, even then too many questions were racing through his head for him to act on any of them. No, not even questions, he was too confused for anything as structured as a worded question, just emotions.

"Y-you guys saw that too, right?" Alexx asked, breaking the silence.

"Yeah," Loran said numbly.

"He can't be serious right? Like, this is some kind of publicity stunt or whatever." Yang was speaking louder, she was starting to panic.

"...I don't... actually, no this can't be just a stunt."

"What do you mean?" Soze asked, still calm but his voice and eyes were tense, hyper-focused.

"Disabling the Eject Code, even if that was all Dr. Zheng had done, would be a huge safety risk to anyone currently logged in," Loran explained, "with how many people are probably playing this game, he would probably be facing decades of jail time."

"Okay, so either someone hacked the game or the creator literally just trapped us in here for some fucked up reason," Yang said calmly, "what do we do now?"

"Whatever we can," Soze said, "Loran, is there any way to affect the code from here?"

"Checking....no, console commands are disabled too."

"Then we focus on survival. That announcement said that dying would have consequences, so we need to keep playing the game and stay alive.

"Would... the penalty for death wouldn't be the deaths of our actual bodies, would it?" Yin asked, her voice steady but eyes nervous.

"Fuck no," Yang said, "I am not going to die from a fucking cliched anime trope."

"We don't know, but let's not tempt fate," Loran turned to Soze, "so, uh, you said you knew a thing or two about survival?"

Soze cracked a strained smile. "Yeah, guess I'm calling the shots now. Any objections?"

The others were silent.

"Okay then. Tomorrow we're going to fortify the camp, for now, everyone go to sleep. I'll take the first watch," he said, grabbing a few spears before laying back against a tree.

"We're standing watch?" Alexx asked, surprised.

"Do you trust these woods, or this game right now?" Loran grabbed a spear from the pile, turning to Soze, "I'll join you."

"After everything that just happened, you honestly expect us to sleep?" Yang asked.

"Maybe not, but right now everyone needs to rest and sort their thoughts," Soze said. "Worrying about it won't change anything."

"Whatever," Yang said before lying down in her shelter.

Yin lied down next to her after saying that the two of them would take the next watch. Alexx also went to settle in and soon enough, the three were asleep while Loran and Soze watched over the campsite.

Even without a clock, Soze had a good sense of time and could tell that around two hours had passed. He tossed some more wood on the fire, not wanting it to go out completely but making sure to keep it low.

"So what's your deal?" Soze asked quietly.

The two had remained silent up until now, not even moving for the most part, and the sudden question caught Loran off guard.

"What does that mean?" 'Have I done something wrong?'

"It's just, you seem really calm despite..." Soze gestured all around them, "you know. I've dealt with this sort of stuff in real life before, I even," his eyes distant for a moment before refocusing, "anyway, I was just curious. Unless it's too personal."

"No, it's nothing serious like that. I never did anything special in reality, I'm just calm."

"That's it? Trapped in a death game and you're just chilling?"

"What, were you expecting some story about how dangerous my life is?" Loran shrugged. "I'm just some guy. I stock shelves at my local supermarket. The most interesting thing that's ever happened to me was getting lost on a camping trip when I was twelve. Panicking just seems like a waste of time right now."

"Alright, I'm going to have to call you out on that one, no one just decides to not panic."

"Maybe, but it doesn't seem that complicated to me." Loran leaned back, trying to get comfortable. "I might not know anything about survival like you, but I've played plenty of video games. The answer is simple, play the game and don't die."

"You really think it'll be that easy?"

Loran shrugged, "probably not, but I still like my chances; just like how you would probably feel if you were stranded on a deserted island."

"I guess," Soze muttered, "...although I've never actually been to a deserted island before."

The two continued talking as the night wore on. After around four hours they were becoming too tired to continue the watch and so they woke the girls for their shift.

Just before Loran crawled into his shelter, he took one last look up at the sky. With no civilization to muddle the sky with light, the sky had become blanketed with countless stars and vibrant colors from distant galaxies. Loran thought back to that camping trip years ago. He had hated almost every second of it; the cabins were old and run down, his mattress felt like rocks, and the mosquitoes had practically eaten him alive, but there were some moments he remembers fondly, and one that he could never forget.

He had gotten lost when he wandered too far away from the campsite as the sun was going down, so far that even yelling at the top of his little lungs got no reply. He had been nervous at first, but while the feeling didn't fade it was overcome by something. Being away from the decrepit campsite made him feel like he was truly exploring the untamed wilderness. He began looking at all the plants, animals, and insects to distract himself and he found it all so interesting. He climbed a tree and was able to watch the sunset across a distant lake; and when night fell, the stars came out. Loran never knew how to properly describe this moment, a silence only interrupted by the clicks and chattering of nature and the pounding of this heart from the climb up the tree, the absolute darkness save for the moon and stars, feeling completely alone and totally unconcerned.

He could not call it beautiful, not terrifying, not exciting, not peaceful, the moment simply stuck with him.

Looking up at this virtual night sky, surrounded by the sounds of the woods, the animals, and the crackling fire, that feeling returned to him.

'Eden huh,' he thought as he lay down on the grass floor of his shelter, 'Alright Dr. Zheng, let's see this 'paradise' of yours.'