The HyperTech Incident.
The fusion of players' souls with the virtual reality game's neural network undoubtedly had profound implications and triggered a global crisis.
The world was thrust into a state of panic and confusion.
It sounded unreal, fictional, impossible…
And yet it happened.
World leaders were dealing with a completely new situation, where the lives of their people were now tied to a virtual world.
They quickly organized emergency meetings and international conferences to figure out what to do. The goal was to work together, share knowledge, and plan how to use resources to solve the problem.
Their main focus was to make sure the people stuck in the game were safe and taken care of.
The science community, especially those who specialize in areas like neuroscience, artificial intelligence, and quantum physics, were asked to study and understand how the connection between the neural network and human consciousness worked. They carried out intense research to find ways to separate the players from the game and create protections to stop any more disasters from happening.
The tech industry were under scrutiny.
Most especially the ones invested in FIVR (Fully Immersive Virtual Reality).
People started to question the safety and ethics of virtual reality games. Developers, engineers, and designers worked together to find a way to undo the fusion and bring back the clear line between the virtual world and the real one.
Discussions about rules and safety guidelines for future immersive technologies became much more important and widely talked about.
The general public was gripped by fear.
They were extremely worried about the lives of those stuck in the game.
Support groups and hotlines were set up to offer emotional help to the families affected.
Protests and movements started, with people demanding answers, solutions, and responsibility from both HyperTech Industries and the government.
Because the crisis was affecting the whole world, countries had to combine their resources and expertise to deal with it together. They focused on joint research projects, sharing knowledge and technology, and setting up task forces to tackle the situation.
There were also diplomatic negotiations to address legal and ethical dilemmas arising from the incident.
━ ━ ━ ━
In the other world…
Shin sat comfortably on the cold, hard ground, with his legs crossed in a relaxed position. Even though he looked at ease, his face showed a calm and thoughtful expression.
He turned to Aqua, the blue-haired elven girl next to him, and listened carefully to what she was saying.
"So, what you're saying is that you think we're trapped in this game? Like stuck here?"
Aqua nodded as her short, bright blue hair fell to one side as she tilted her head.
"Yes, that's what I think... For now at least. We can't log out of the game world."
"Alright…"
A nod came from Shin.
He had already tried to log out, but it didn't work. It wasn't that there was no log out button available; there was—but pushing on it didn't do anything.
Gently rubbing his chin thoughtfully, Shin spoke.
"I guess that's possible. But for now, we should focus on figuring out how to escape this dungeon and get outside."
"Hm?" Aqua furrowed her brows in confusion.
"You see, if we're actually stuck in this game, surely other players have figured it out as well. They must already be talking about strategies and solutions already; you know, a way to get out of here."
"I suppose you're right…" Aqua conceded with a soft voice.
Shin stood up smoothly from his seat and quickly brushed off his brown pants.
Then, he looked at Aqua.
"What about Kazuto and the others? Are they dead too?"
Aqua was surprised by the idea and felt a bit horrified.
"What? No way! Why would you even think that?"
Her voice was tense, and she replied quickly.
Shin raised an eyebrow at her sudden defensiveness.
"Chill out, I was just guessing since we were all together during that incident. I figured we'd all end up in the same place if we got teleported."
He shrugged nonchalantly.
Aqua tapped her chin as she thought, and then a light bulb went off in her head.
"Oh, you're right! But we were much closer together when it happened, so that could explain why we ended up here while they're somewhere else."
Yawning lazily, Shin stretched his slim body and then slid his hands into his pockets.
"Alright, let's see…"
He walked over to the tall door that held them on the 10th floor (final floor). His sharp eyes scanned the area before he turned back to the blue-haired elf.
"I think it's a good idea for us to get going."
He looked around the place again.
Aqua paused for a moment, her blue eyes locked on a headless corpse lying on the ground.
She looked over at Shin, ready to ask him something.
"Wait, can we just… yunno, wait a moment? There's something I'd really like to do first."
Shin raised an eyebrow. "Alright, do you need my help?"
"No, it's fine."
"Okay?"
Aqua took a deep breath to calm herself before sharing what she planned to do.
"I want to pay my respects to Serix."
"Serix?" Shin repeated.
"Umh, he's one of the high-level players we were teleported with? I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for him."
"Oh cool, I'm guessing he's dead now?"
Aqua nodded her head, looking serious. "Yes."
"Alright then, I'll focus on the door. Take your time."
Right after, Shin looked at the old walls around them and began to run his hand along them.
As Aqua knelt beside Serix's torn and lifeless body, she looked at his pale face, blood staining his mouth. Memories rushed back to her, and strong emotions rose up inside her. She struggled to hold back her tears and her voice trembled as she made a heartfelt promise to the fallen warrior.
'When we got teleported here, I didn't know anyone, not even you, Serix. But now I'm trying really hard not to cry. I-, I really don't want to, but I know I probably will at some point. Serix was experienced, yet he always put other players' lives before his own safety. He stood out from the others. Instead of leaving his teammates behind, he fought alongside them with amazing skill and showed a lot of humility…'
A tear rolled down her pallid cheek and landed on Serix's cold forehead.
"Serix. I'll make sure your sacrifice wasn't in vain…"
…
Meanwhile.
Shin was standing before the huge door.
He placed his hand on the surface.
'Hey, voice?'
He tried contacting the voice he heard from earlier.
[Active…]
The system responded.
[What do you require?]
'You said something about the dungeon belonging to me. If that's the case can you open this door?'
[Negative. The level 10 dungeon - Sila Labyrinth, is still being processed. Estimated time till activation is 10 minutes…]
Shin sighed heavily and placed one hand on the back of his neck, gently scratching it.
"Alright, I can wait."
Aqua got up from her knees, which caught Shin's attention.
"Hm, are you done?" he asked.
Aqua nodded softly, sniffing a little as she wiped away the small tear marks on her cheek.
"Yeah… *sniffle* I am."
She forced a cheerful smile.
Only a nod came from Shin.
"So, what about the door, figured out a way to open it yet?"
"Nah…" Shin folded his arms and shook his head. "It'll take some minutes."
Aqua was confused. "Okay?" she replied nonetheless.
A thought came to Shinʼs mind.
"Oh yeah… while we're waiting, you mind telling me about what really happened after we got warped here?"
"Uh…"
Aquaʼs grip on her staff tightened, she didn't want to relive the experience.
"Sure, if you want to…"
━ ━ ━ ━
Five hours ago…
After the blackout hit all the players in Elden Online, Aqua suddenly opened her eyes and gasped, as if she had just come up for air after almost drowning.
Her heart was racing.
'Wh-, What's going on…?'
As she looked around, Aqua realized she was in a strange, darkly lit place. Panic began to rise in her chest, and she called out for her friends, hoping to hear any kind of response.
"Shin? Kazuto? Hiyori? Hiro?!"
She shouted into the darkness, but all she got back was the echo of her voice.
"I… It's no use… I'm all alone…"
Just as her anxiety started to take over, she felt a hand gently rest on her shoulder, causing her to jump.
"Calm down…" a soothing voice said.
Aqua aimed her staff in the direction of the voice, but the person quickly intercepted it with ease.
Aqua aimed her staff in the direction of the voice, but the person speaking effortlessly intercepted it.
"HUH?"
Her eyes widened as a figure stepped into the dim light, becoming clearer as they moved closer.
It was a player named Serix.
"Hey, hold on a sec! Can you give me a moment? I was gonna explain everything."
"…"
No response from Aqua.
Serix glanced back and gave a command.
"Ragz, could you use the light crystal already?"
A tall, muscular man named Ragz grinned.
"You got it, boss!"
In one quick movement, he pulled a yellow cube crystal from his pouch and held it up high.
… Zuuuuuu~!
Suddenly, the dark space around them lit up with a soft, warm glow, showing all the details of their surroundings.
[«Light Crystal» This is a common yet essential item. When you pour mana into the crystal, it gives off a bright glow that lights up the area around you. It's an important tool for exploring, especially useful for lighting up dark dungeons.]
Aqua blinked as her eyes adjusted to the light.
"Hnn?"
She first knew to look at the person who had touched her shoulder earlier.
It was Serix, a strikingly handsome male elf with bright blue hair that flowed smoothly down his back. He stood tall and confident, with his crystal sword gleaming at his side.
Aqua hesitantly lowered her staff. "Who are you?"
"Oh, I'm uh… Serix?"
He introduced himself with a charming smile.
Aqua carefully watched the seemingly innocent elf while she used her staff to crawl back to her feet.
"I'm Aqua…"
She began brushing the dirt off her robes.
"But that doesn't answer my question. What's going on here? Why are we all scattered like this?"
"Can't believe we gotta explain this again!" Ragz groaned.
Serix spoke softly. "Be nice, Ragz."
Ragz sighed and stepped forward.
The man looked a little frustrated, but he still spoke.
"We've all ended up scattered across this world. That's what we think, at least. It seems like Elden Online had a huge system failure, almost like the game crashed and restarted. Now we're stuck here, trying to figure everything out."
Serix and Ragz thought that they had all come from different places. They based this idea on their investigation of the other players, who were also spread out in the labyrinth. They found out that some players were from different races, regions, or even continents.
Aqua looked around the area again.
Her eyes settled on the six other players standing nearby. She realized she didn't recognize any of them.
Both worry and curiosity bubbled up inside her. Taking a deep breath, she gathered her courage to speak again.
"What about you guys?"
Serix looked at her. "They're the other players stuck in the game with us."
Aqua's eyes widened.
"Stuck…"
She paused, or maybe even choked.
"Wh-, What're you trying to say?"
Serix crossed his arms and focused his cold blue eyes on Aqua as he shared the troubling news.
"What I'm trying to say is we could be trapped in this game world… permanently."
It didn't seem like a joke.
Even though Aqua wished it were.
Her eyes widened like she was an insane person.
"Stuck in the game? Are you kidding me? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!"
Usually, Aqua wasn't like this. Everyone who knew her saw her as a polite and friendly person.
But the frustration from the mental stress of their situation was getting to her. It was causing her to behave in ways she never would have expected.
"THAT'S ENOUGH ALREADY!"
Ragz shot back at her as he stepped forward.
"The boss is just trying his best to help by making your dumbass understand!"
The man was itching to hit something.
Anger bubbled inside Aqua as she looked up at Ragz, a player with a massive figure who made her small body seem even smaller. He was a Warrior with the Berserker subclass, so it made sense that he was so big.
"Take it easy," Serix said as he patted Ragz on the back. "You always get so worked up."
Ragz huffed and replied defensively, "Of course I'm worked up! I don't like the way she's talking to you."
Serix smiled calmly and reassured him, "It's okay, I'm not complaining. She's just in shock, and that makes sense. This whole situation is really hard to understand."
The brute man's anger started to fade, and he mumbled an apology to Serix, his eyes on the ground. "I'm sorry."
"Don't worry about it…" Serix smiled softly.
Ragz gave Aqua a sharp, disdainful look.
"Doesn't mean I'm apologizing to her. If you hadn't calmed me down, things would've ended differently."
He stormed off to join the other group of players.
Serix let out a sigh. He was exasperated.
"He's always so angry…"
Soon after, his attention went back to Aqua.
"You still don't believe we're stuck in the game, right?"
"Mhm, and why should I?" Aqua replied sharply.
"Fine. I'll prove it to you."
"Good!"
"Okay. Try logging out."
Oddly enough, the suggestion caught Aqua by surprise.
"What?" she asked, perplexed.
"You heard me," Serix insisted.
"Uh, sure…"
Aqua hesitantly summoned her menu board by lightly swiping her index finger through the air.
A translucent blue board appeared in front of her.
She heard several beeping sounds as she quickly navigated the settings and found the log-out button.
She clicked on it.
Nothing happened…
She clicked again, and again, and again.
This went on for about one minute.
Panic consumed Aqua as the realization sunk in.
"I… I CAN'T LOG OUT…!"
Serix let out a weary sigh.
"I've been trying to tell you. At first, we thought it was just a lag in the system, but it's way more than that now. We've let the system cool down several times, but nothing changes."
He didn't even want to think about how many times he had clicked the log-out button, hoping that it would work.
Aqua was still shocked.
"So… we really are stuck in the game?"
Both her body and her voice was trembling with fear.
Serix nodded solemnly. "Unfortunately, yes. We've explored every available option, but it seems like there's no way out."
Aqua's heart sank, and a sense of helplessness hit her.
That's when she caught Serix mumbling something.
"What was that?" Aqua asked.
The elven swordsman hesitated for a moment before deciding to disclose the information.
"Well, one of the players suggested that we could try killing someone in our group. They think it might wake the victim up and end their game."
It was too risky a move.
Aqua's eyes widened in horror. "We can't do that!"
Serix let out a quiet laugh, hoping to lighten the mood.
"No, no, of course not. I wasn't planning on doing it either. It was just an idea that came up."
Great relief washed over Aqua as she placed a shaking hand on her chest. "Phew…" she breathed.
"You don't need to worry, Aqua. We're all going to make it out of here alive. All ten of us."
Serix's face softened as he spoke to her.
Aqua frowned, looking confused.
"All ten? But… wait…"
She took a moment to count everyone in the group, pointing at each person one by one and tallying them on her fingers.
Soon enough, she finished and turned to look at Serix.
"Erm, but there's only nine of us."
"Oh, someone's still unconscious."
Serix smiled and pointed to a player lying in the corner.
It was Shin.
Aqua immediately felt relieved──at least it was someone she actually recognized.
"Hmm…"
But it was hard to tell if Shin was unconscious or just asleep.