Kitsune blinked, the pixelated world dissolving into the muted grey of his room. The sky outside, once daylight, had surrendered to the velvet embrace of night. A few hours had flown away in the realm of Full Dive, yet their traces clung to him. He was synergies with his in game character as he carried a dull echo of the fatigue from the game. But he seemed to have recovered from his first time in the virtual world of Full Dive. Time, it seemed, held its own warped rules within the game's code.
He checked his phone – 12 am, surprised that it had already been six hours. He'd slept through the night. School – with its droning lectures and stifling conformity – loomed like a distant, unwelcome shore.
Just then, he decided to not attend school that day. Why return to the voring life, when Fulldive offered a world of thrilling chaos? His fingertips itched for the worn handle of his console, for the rush of adrenaline that surged through him in the game. He got an email from Rockstar Games. And it read...
[Nondisclosure Agreement
"You have been granted access to the real truth of the game before you start your journey. Firstly, the game you are now interfacing with is not Full Dive. This is Grand Theft Auto Seven—GTA 7. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, involves mastering the mechanics of this realm and navigating the rules that govern it.
You have been given early access to the game.]
"Grand Theft...?" Kitsune raised an eyebrow. The game whose trailer has attracted attention worldwide. Having about a billion views in the first 24 hours of the trailer release. The most anticipated game of the century. The release date in the trailer was said to be in 5 years and the day happens to be 3 days from now.
Three days. That's all it took for GTA 7 to breach the barrier from fantasy to reality. Early access, an exciting whisper from Rockstar Games.
A new notification popped up on his phone.
[Bank Statements| 3 new notifications
$50 has been withdrawn| 14hrs ago
$130 has been withdrawn| 14hrs ago
$10,000 have been deposited| 15hrs ago]
"What the-" Kitsune was shocked by the notifications on his screen. He realized that the game transactions carried on to his real-life transactions.
He slipped on the headset, the familiar rush of digital world swirling around him.
In this world, his escape wasn't from prison, but from the confines of his own life.
The line between worlds blurred, reality bleeding into the game. Was this blurring a symptom of his immersion or a glimpse of something more sinister?
He pushed the thought aside, diving headfirst into the City of Ainsberch. Three days was all he had before the the public had been introduced to Grand Theft Auto 7.