The world is a cruel, unforgiving, and unwelcoming place for those who cannot adapt. It is a place so indifferent to suffering that even those accepted by society find it challenging to continue walking their path. In such an uncaring place missing empathy, where does that leave the outcasts? To many, the answer to that is rather simple.
They create worlds of their own to live in.
His first interaction with them was rather simple. A short "hi" was enough to gather the attention of their whole community. Well, perhaps calling it a "community" was stretching the word's definition. They were a band of online outcasts who decided to form a group of their own. A place they made to find others like them.
They were reclusive at first. They kept to their little circle without ever looking outside. But one of them was at the very least aware enough that still waters would stagnate with time, so they eventually opened the group up to more people. Over time, their numbers began to grow. And among the new members was he, who happened upon them by coincidence when scrolling down a list of community servers to join.
Just like they were, he too was a lonely sort. Having spent most of his time on his own in the last few years, he eventually decided to break the mold of his everyday routine to seek out a community to be a part of. He was starved for socialization. Introverted though he may have been, he knew he could not last like that any longer. So, after gathering a bit of courage, he clicked the JOIN button and received a rather mixed welcome.
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A new user has joined the server.
ENNUI: Hi.
✨MiLA-TONIN✨: Welcome to our server @ENNUI!
Atl_a: hello
deleted_user_404: are you a girl? @ENNUI
PD3: @deleted_user_404 Can you please not creep out the new guy?
deleted_user_404: arent you the rude one for assuming genders
PD3: I don't want to hear any of that bullshit
M@tix: Hi Ennui
○○○: welcome!
◖YorA◗: Oh hey, a new member! Hello.
RED/STAR: its getting crowded
Thiel...: thats another one to add to the rp do you like rp? @ENNUI
(￣□￣): lets do a fantasy one for the next rp!!!
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This came as a surprise to him. Despite being a small community of ten users, their reception was nothing less than overwhelming. Before he knew it, the chat box began to move at a rapid pace. However, as the messages from the server's residents barraged his screen, one in particular caught his immediate attention.
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(￣□￣): hey lets have the new guy decide on the story for the next rp
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"What?" He muttered, confused by the stranger's sudden proposal.
Thiel...: that sounds like fun
RED/STAR: fuck that, let Mila do it
PD3: Isn't that a bit much? He just joined.
deleted_user_404: assuming genders again
PD3: Fuck off
✨MiLA-TONIN✨: Sorry, Ennui! You don't have to do it if you don't want to!
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"That's a bit... Well, maybe I can try?" He whispered to himself.
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ENNUI: I used to write a little, so maybe I can give it a try.
(￣□￣): oh shit? we got a writer in here boys.
○○○: interesting. ever written fantasy before?
Atl_a: lets work on it all together like last time so we dont put it all on the Ennui
deleted_user_404: i want another harem
◖YorA◗: Let's not go too crazy this time, alright guys?
M@tix: Seconded
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"They're pretty quick to hop on the bandwagon together."
He tapped the edge of his mousepad as he took in the community's responses one by one. They all seemed to have quite a presence in each of them. Perhaps this wasn't so great an idea after all, he thought at first, but as he kept interacting with the disorderly crew of misfits, a spark lit a small flame in his heart. For the first time in a while, he felt some barely perceivable level of excitement.
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ENNUI: Nui circled the room as she held her chin up in thought. "If we drive a blade down the giant beast's nape, then maybe we can deliver a fatal blow." She muttered as her frustration grew apparent with each passing step. "But it's nothing short of dangerous and pretty close to impossible. The beast is too large to scale. Whoever tries will probably get swatter dead before they could even reach halfway up its back."
RED/STAR: (ooc) cant we just get a grappling hook or something
M@tix: (OOC) In a fantasy? Be real for a second
○○○: we had steampunk elements before, so how about a steam powered grappling hook?
PD3: (OOC) Don't forget to add (OOC) for out-of-character talk... and wouldn't it be better if we use mana stones instead?
deleted_user_404: (ooc) very original
PD3: (OOC) You have a better idea, fatass?
deleted_user_404: (ooc) bro cant even say fat a**, what a r*****
deleted_user_404: why is it censored, which of you a******* did this
✨MiLA-TONIN✨: (OOC) Sorry! I added a bot for keeping the chat clean of bad words. I didn't want us to scare away any new members, after all!
deleted_user_404: Oh, no, I'm sorry for being rude, Mila.
PD3: (OOC) Wow...
◖YorA◗: (OOC) Can we get back to the RP?
Thiel...: Baruk stepped forward and beat his armored chest with his large gauntlet-covered fist, his excitement growing at the hint of danger. "I will do it!" He declared with a resounding roar. "I will partake in this most dangerous task!"
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Days went by. Then months. Over time, they built up quite an immersive FANTASY world. They had all grown so attached to this fictional place of their imaginings that it became hard for any of them to let go as they had each of their characters live their FANTASIES. Even he, who had initially been uncertain of participating in their roleplay, had grown to love it after donning Nui's mask.
In that FANTASY world, he lived as Nui - a young priestess who was betrayed by her family and lost everything. It was a tale that struck close to home for him since he made it out of a similar experience he had in his life. The young priestess was a vengeful soul who sought to bring forth the downfall of her betrayers. Motivated by hatred, she searched high and low for those traitors, only to find them dead at the hands of karma, leaving her empty inside. By the start of her journey, she gets swept up by a band of misfits and ends up joining their crew.
"Now that I think about it, that latter half of her story sounds... pretty familiar to how things all began for me in this server. I wonder if anyone's noticed that yet?" He whispered to himself as his eyes remained glued to the screen and his hands typed away on his keyboard.
Click. Clack. Clack. Click.
As per his routine, he began writing up the next scenario of their united story. He wanted to make something exciting to pump up his newfound friends. He thought of various things that he wanted to make happen. He thought of his friends' preferences, how their characters would react to scenes, and more.
Click. Clack. Clack. Click.
At some point, he realized that something was wrong. The text on the screen was no longer legible, though it seemed he could still add to the text. Experimenting a little more, he tried typing letters in uppercase and then lowercase, yet nothing came out legible in his eyes.
"That's... weird. Are my eyes broken now?" He muttered.
He looked down at his keyboard and noticed that the letters were still readable. Looking back up, the screen was still a blurry mess. He had typed up a storm just minutes before, so displayed before him should have been big blocks of text representative of a future in their fictional tale yet to unfold. Despite this, however, all that was visible was a white fog blocking out the black screen.
"Is this a bug?"
He had originally set the writing program to dark mode since his eyes often felt strained while he wrote stories in the darkness of his room. Scratching his head, he thought that the program might have bugged out as a result of it being set in dark mode. He tried switching it back to its default settings but found that he couldn't even open the settings menu.
"What the fuck?" He cursed.
Before long, the mysterious digital mist that covered the screen soon began to spread out and envelop everything. He jumped back in his seat in a panic. Thoughts racing, he arrived at the idea that he might have gotten a virus on his computer, so he quickly turned his computer chair to grab his phone so he could use that to browse for a solution when something strange suddenly happened.
Wooosh!
The white mist that took over the screen just seconds prior had suddenly reached beyond its digital confines and began consuming the room around the monitor. It happened all too quickly. Before he could even react, he was blasted by the white mist. The world before him was reduced to nothing in an instant, and before he could even think, he lost consciousness.
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A new player has joined the world.