In 2102, a revolutionary technology developed by Takemoto Kamiko called Integrated Virtual Reality (IVR) hit the world like a meteor. This innovation allowed humans to transfer their consciousness into simulated worlds, granting them control over virtual bodies as if they were flesh and blood with limitations of course. Five years after IVR's debut, a Japanese studio named NNVTech saw its golden opportunity and seized it with both hands.
Everdawn, a VR-MMORPG released in 2107, erupted onto the market backed by an army of five thousand developers. It drew millions of players into its servers like moths to a light. Players found themselves immersed in a world of breathtaking design, featuring intricate craft and build systems, a vast array of abilities numbering 35,000 in total, and a diverse selection of races. For any fantasy enthusiast, it was a dream turned into pixels and code, a chance to live in a world they'd only imagined, even if only within the confines of a game.
But as with any addiction, some players fell harder than others. These individuals, dubbed "degenerates" by the community, poured countless hours into the VR-MMORPG, some clocking over ten thousand hours of playtime. Among these dedicated souls, one player stood out: Kanna, boasting a staggering thirty thousand hours played. Many wondered if she ever logged off, her commitment to the game bordering on obsession. Little did they know, Kanna had a secret identity – in the real world, she was Akari Shimizu, a developer at NNVTech itself.
Akari was a prodigy, her skills in programming and game design unparalleled. At just 19, while still a freshman in college, her exceptional talents and connections had landed her a coveted position at NNVTech. But for all her genius, nothing could have prepared her for the grueling demands of her new role.
The success of Everdawn had stretched the NNVTech workforce to its limits. Despite boasting over 5,000 developers, the team worked around the clock, locked in an endless battle against bugs and the insatiable appetite of their player base. The office had become a second home – or perhaps a first home – for most. Weeks blended together in a haze of sleepless nights, the lights never dimming, a constant reminder of the work that never ceased even after the initial release of the game.
The relentless ping of new bug tickets and help requests became a maddening cycle, each sound eliciting a collective groan from the weary developers. For Akari, juggling her roles as a full-time employee and a full-time student was taking its toll. Dark circles had taken up permanent residence under her eyes, her once-vibrant skin now pale from lack of sunlight. Yet, she refused to give up either her position or her studies. Instead, she doubled down, pushing herself beyond her limits – a decision that would prove to have dire consequences.
One night, during yet another extended shift, Akari leaned back in her chair, stretching muscles that had long since forgotten what relaxation felt like. Her black hair, usually sleek and shiny, hung in disheveled strands. As she blinked away the fatigue, the familiar ping of a new ticket broke the silence.
But this was no ordinary ticket. As Akari's tired eyes scanned the screen, confusion replaced exhaustion. The ticket lacked the usual user ID, a small but significant anomaly in their system. Curious, she opened it, only to be confronted by a sight that sent a jolt through her weary body. The text before her was unlike anything she'd ever encountered.
Instinctively, Akari glanced over her shoulder, seeking out her colleague in the neighboring cubicle. Soyoto, a 24-year-old 3D developer, was hunched over his keyboard, on his screen, a magnificent dragonic-hydra with eight heads and four sweeping wings took shape – the next event boss, scheduled to terrorize players in the upcoming New Year's event.
Soyoto was a fixture in the office, his life outside of work practically non-existent. Despite his pivotal role in creating Everdawn's stunning visuals, his own character languished at a mere level 19, a fact that often amused his coworkers since most of them were between level 1,000-2,000. His dedication to his craft filled the void left by an otherwise solitary existence, making him a constant presence during these late-night shifts.
"Soyoto," Akari called, her voice betraying her perplexity. "Got a minute? I've stumbled upon something... odd in a ticket. I can't make heads or tails of it."
Soyoto pushed back from his desk, his eyebrows arching in curiosity. "Sure, but if it's got you stumped, what hope do I have, Ms. Prodigy?" Despite the teasing tone, there was no malice in his words – just the easy banter of colleagues who'd weathered many storms together in this overworked company.
As Soyoto's eyes fell on Akari's screen, his expression morphed from intrigue to confusion, finally settling on bewilderment. "What in the hell am I looking at?"
"It appeared out of nowhere," Akari explained, gesturing at the screen. "No ID, no auto-translation. And it's written in some weird ass language."
Soyoto leaned in closer, his brow furrowing as he studied the mysterious text. "That's... bizarre. I've never seen anything like it. Could be a glitch in the system, or maybe some troll trying to be clever."
"What do you think I should do?" Akari asked, her fingers hovering uncertainly over the keyboard.
Soyoto straightened up, shrugging his shoulders. "Honestly? I'd delete it. If it's a real issue, it'll pop up again. No sense wasting time on what's probably just a system hiccup."
Akari nodded slowly, her cursor moving to hover over the delete option. "You're probably right. No use overthinking it." Yet, even as she spoke those words, a nagging feeling tugged at the back of her mind.
"Thanks, Soyoto," she said, turning back to her cluttered desktop.
"Anytime," he replied, already refocusing on his hydra design. "Give a shout if anything else weird crops up."
As Akari's finger hovered over the mouse, that nagging feeling intensified, as if some hidden part of her was screaming a warning. She hesitated, caught in a moment of indecision. Then, with a sharp intake of breath, she clicked. The ticket vanished from her screen, leaving behind only a gnawing sense of unease.
A soft sigh escaped her lips, equal parts relief and lingering doubt. Turning back to her monitor, Akari's eyes fell on her seemingly endless to-do list. The sight drew an even heavier sigh from her exhausted frame. With a slight shake of her head, as if to physically dislodge her lingering concerns, she steeled herself and dove back into her work. The odd incident was pushed to the recesses of her mind, buried beneath the avalanche of tasks demanding her attention.
As the clock struck 23:23:11, Akari stretched once more, her joints popping. She cast a glance at Soyoto, unsurprised to find him fast asleep, his head pillowed on his arms at his desk. It was a common sight, one Akari herself was all too familiar with. A twinge of envy shot through her as she realized that while she'd have to dash off to college in a few short hours, Soyoto could enjoy a longer rest right here in the office.
Looking down at her hands, Akari noticed a slight tremor – a telltale sign of the strain she'd been subjecting her body to. The need for sleep weighed heavily on her, but there was always one more ticket to close, one more bug to squash. Quickly wrapping up a final task, she reached under her desk and pulled out a folded blanket – a necessary accessory for nights like these.
As she draped the blanket over herself, her eyes began to close of their own accord. The mysterious ticket flickered through her thoughts one more time, causing her eyelids to flutter open occasionally. But the call of sleep was too strong to resist. Within minutes, Akari drifted off, the quiet hum of computers acting as white noise.
However, Akari's sleep was far from peaceful. Voices echoed in her mind, urgent and insistent: Wake up, Akari. Wake up, Kanna.
Suddenly, her eyes shot open, heart racing. For a moment, she was disoriented. The wail of fire alarms cut through her confusion, jolting her fully awake. Smoke filled her nostrils, and an orange glow flickered from beyond the cubicle walls.
Panic surged through her veins as the reality of the situation set in. All around her, developers were jolting awake, their confused murmurs quickly turning to shouts of alarm.
"Fire!" someone screamed. The word echoed across the floor, causing chaos as dozens of sleep-deprived programmers, artists, and designers scrambled to their feet.
Akari leapt up, her eyes searching frantically for Soyoto. "Soyoto!" she yelled over the growing chaos of alarms and panicked voices. "Where are you?"
"Here!" came his reply, barely audible over the din. She spotted him a few cubicles away, helping a younger developer to her feet.
People were running in all directions, some heading for the stairs, others frozen in panic. The smell of smoke grew stronger, and the heat became unbearable.
"The stairs are blocked!" came a shout from near the exit. "The fire's too strong!"
Akari looked around and made the terrifying realization: there was no other way out.
Smoke and fire started to fill the room. Screams exploded from all directions. Soyoto ran over to Akari, his voice heavy with despair: "There's no way out..." Smoke continued to fill the room as oxygen levels dropped. People collapsed onto the floor, suffocating.
Soon after, Soyoto collapsed, dying on the spot from lack of oxygen and fire engulfing him.
As darkness closed in, Akari's mind raced with desperate thoughts. I don't want to die! she screamed internally, her consciousness fading. Please... anything... I'll do anything! Her inner voice grew weaker. I just wanted to live an easier life, to accomplish something meaningful…
Within that blackness, a robotic voice echoed:
[Request acknowledged: Connecting To Everd-]
The voice cut short as Akari slipped into full unconsciousness. As she slept, she felt as if she were floating on a cloud, weightless and serene. But that sensation soon faded, replaced by a growing warmth on her skin and face. It was as if she were basking in gentle sunlight, though her eyes remained closed.
The gentle chirping of birds and the soft rustling of leaves in the wind began to fill Akari's ears. The sweet scent of flowers and fresh nature flooded her nostrils, a stark contrast to the smoke she last remembered. Slowly, her eyelids fluttered open.
As her vision cleared, Akari realized she was no longer in the fire-ravaged office. Instead, she found herself at the edge of a lush forest, perched on a cliffside. Before her stretched a breathtaking vista of verdant flatlands, dotted with colorful wildflowers by a gleaming river that snaked through the landscape.
In the distance, nestled amidst a golden field of wheat, stood what appeared to be a small farmstead. Tiny figures—perhaps people or animals—moved about. Akari blinked, trying to process the drastic change in her surroundings, her mind still grappling with the sudden shift from danger to this scene.
As Akari panned her gaze to the right, she was startled as an interface materialized in her field of vision, its unexpected appearance causing her to flinch. The translucent display hovered before her eyes, presenting information in a crisp, digital format:
[Name: Kanna] [Race: Lich] [Level: 5,000] [Occupation: Developer] [Limiter: Disabled]
"My... character?" Akari mumbled, her voice tinged with disbelief. As she pushed herself up, her fingers sank into soft grass. The flood of scents and the warmth on her skin made her pause. Her eyes widened. "This can't be... it's too real." She inhaled sharply, the realization hitting her: This is reality…
As she looked around, she noticed a small pond only a mere few steps away. Quickly walking over and looking into it, she realized her previous assumption was indeed true. Akari was now Kanna: A lich that looked eerily similar to a human due to character editing despite silver hair and purple eyes, and the incredibly long life-span.
Kanna sighed in disbelief, but at the same time relief. After all, she wasn't burning or being overworked like just moments ago. Although, an issue arose now that she was within this world which she assumed to be Everdawn given her character.
As she tried to open her friends list, she found all her old guild members and friends to be grayed out. Opening another menu with a left swipe led to her seeing the logout button grayed out, and an error displayed:
[Connection To Servers Lost]
Well, that's a given... Akari thought, turning her gaze to the farmstead below. Decision made, she quickly checked her gear. Everything was in order, including her item-box, which responded as it should. Its infinite space, a perk of her developer status, allowed her to store and retrieve anything she needed as long as she had it.
As she completed her quick gear check, Akari nodded to herself. Time to go, she thought, eyeing the distant farmstead. I hope everything works as it should, like in the game... She let out a small sigh. Well, whatever. It's time to make my way to that farmstead.
As Akari made her way towards the farmstead, she couldn't help but marvel at the scenery around her. The landscape was truly breathtaking, even more stunning than she remembered from the game. The vibrant colors of the wildflowers, the gentle sway of the wheat fields, and the sparkling river winding through the valley were truly beautiful compared to her mundane and polluted world.
The dev team really outdid themselves, she thought, a small smile forming on her lips. Now… let's see if I can find any players or information! She stated to herself as she traveled toward the farmstead.