Noah's breath hitched as the last remaining Lava Cannon Slime swelled, fiery sparks dancing around its gelatinous body. He could barely think, his mind clouded with exhaustion and panic.
Kate's voice cut through the haze. "Vasilisa, MOVE!"
Something in her tone snapped him into motion. His legs pushed off the ground, moving almost on their own.
The slime launched another ball of lava, the fiery projectile hissing through the air. His mind raced calculating the projectile trajectory and a conclusion quickly imposed itself in his mind.
I can't dodge this…
It was over. Even if he could get up quickly enough, the droplets would definitely hit him. He couldn't heal himself like Kate, such an injury would definitely spell his own doom. On the other hand, if he didn't move, maybe the ball would make his head explode and he wouldn't have to suffer the feeling of being burned to death.
Dying while suffering or dying immediately—those were his only choice.
"Heh… hehe…"
Somewhere, he found that poetic. First, dying in the ocean, then burned by a sentient ball of lava. Not everyone could tell such a tale. He closed his eyes awaiting the impact.
"*Sigh* You are such a handful."
Suddenly, a voice reached his ears. A familiar one. As he opened his eyes, he found himself not in the hellish landscape he had been a second ago, but in a familiar room—it was Vasilisa's room.
"A dream?" he asked, before holding his throat.
To his surprise he could now talk properly. Not only that bit the voice that came from his mouth wasn't his avatar's soft voice, but his good old deep voice, Noah's voice.
"No kidding?"
His hands too, they were back to their normal size. He was wearing one of those overly large formal shirts his mother liked him to wear, but for once…
"No kidding?! Ah! No kidding?!!"
…He was happy to see it.
He got up from the bed hastily, almost running towards the room's mirror. But rather than seeing his reflection, he saw something else entirely.
"Oh, happy now, are we not?"
In the mirror was a girl with long light-brown and dark eyes. He knew her, that was Vasilisa.
"What… What is going on? Why do I see you in the mirror? Hasn't my body—"
"Well, I intended to leave everything in your 'capable' hand and just watch like a proper lady," said the Vasilisa in the mirror. "Yet, it seems I resonated with the worst god possible. Such a shame. Well, it has to be expected coming from a cursed tongue such as myself."
She shook her head and sighed leaving Noah confused.
"What are you talking about?" he asked. "What do you want?"
Vasilisa raised her eyebrows, "Why would you ask that? Is it not obvious?"
Her eyes suddenly glowed blue and one of her hands crossed the mirror's boundary and caught his collar.
"Now, let me show you what your true power is, player."
.
.
.
It was as if time had stopped. Noah could see the whole scene as if out of his body. As if he was previously playing a first person shooter game, and now switched to a third person RPG.
On the ground was Vasilisa, a few seconds away from getting crushed to death by a lava ball. Behind her was Kate, yelling something at her with a worried face. And to his side was another Vasilisa, her eyes shining blue floating above the scene like him.
"Impressive, is it not? This is the power of you people. You can even stop time and observe the situation like this," she said.
"... So this world is really a game, huh?"
Now, he could see everything he wanted. Kate status screen, Vasilisa's, the slime too. The amount of damage an attack would make, its area of effect and its trajectory. The effect of the terrain, how many monsters were in this castle and where along with its recommended level. He could see anything.
"A game you say," Vasilisa repeated, glancing at him.
"Yeah, look at this. It is totally a game. Look."
He pointed at Vasilisa and a screen detailing options available to him appeared.
"Ah! I can simply push that dodge button and this will miss me! Oh, what would happen if I pressed the Run button?"
As Noah excitedly looked at the new options before him, Vasilisa narrowed her eyes.
"It is truly as they said. You people only see this as a game, do you not?"
"Hm? Are you angry? Well if this is such a realistic game I suppose the AI must be able to get angry. Huh, anyway, where's the exit button?"
She closed her eyes, "... There's no such a thing."
"Oh come on, are you joking? Wait, I know. I am the subject of an immersive virtual reality experiment, right? Ah, just kidding. Here's the exit button."
He had found the main menu. Now he could freely disconnect himself from this awful game if he wanted.
[Warning]
If you disconnect yourself, you will die.
There will not be any reincarnation scheduled for you for the rest of eternity. Do you want to disconnect yourself?
(Yes)/(No)
"Pfft, what now? Who would believe such bullshit? Whoever made this really didn't want me to disconnect, huh? Here."
He pressed the button and suddenly, he found himself in the dark. There was nothing, not even a single light, not even a single thing.
"Huh? Where am…"
He stopped, realizing he wasn't hearing his voice either. It took him a moment—or what felt like a moment—to comprehend what had happened. The weightlessness was not just physical; it was existential. He couldn't feel any part of his body anymore, or rather, he couldn't move any part of his body.
"Eh? Eh?! Eh?!! Wait, this… this isn't…"
His breath accelerated, or rather would have accelerated if he still had lungs. He was not floating in the dark; he was the dark. One with it since his last breath.
Panic bubbled up inside him, but the realization that he couldn't scream, couldn't move, or even breathe, drowned it. His thoughts spiraled. He tried to feel his hands, his face, anything to anchor himself, but there was nothing. Just him, an unmoored consciousness adrift in a void darker than death.
It was just like he realized Vasilisa's body wasn't his, but worse, way worse. It was like being buried into a coffin in the sea without even being able to drown.
He opened an unexisting mouth to call for help. He yelled, struggled, yelled again, but nothing moved.
Then, after a while, he decided to calm down. If this was, as he thought, some test for a really immersive game, then he just had to wait. Someone would notice he wasn't connected anymore and free him.
Yes, he just had to wait.
Wait for a bit.
Not panic, wait.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait.
Wait…
Wait…
Wait…
Wait…? But for how long? What if they never planned to free him? No, no, that would… reasonable people would never do that. He was too impatient. How long has it been? A few hours at best? He could wait. He just had to think about something to pass the time.
Yes, think of something.
Think… of something.
***
Suddenly, he realized why some people put sockets on their door when they want their roommates to know that they are having a girl's home.
Not that he would ever do that though, hahaha…
***
Maybe he should have asked out that girl in highschool. She was always taking his arm when she could on the way back. Sure, he knew another overly 'physical' girl who friendzoned him back in middle-school but he wouldn't have hurted to try. She wasn't exactly his type, but she was kinda cute.
Hm…
Why was it stiff now? Why?
***
HeheheHehehahahaha—
***
Blue lights? He wasn't sure why, but he could see blue lights, or sparks flying around.
Hm…
Which hour was it again?
***
One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine…
***
…
***
Maybe Grenadine juice wasn't as bad as he thought. Well, aside from the fun of having a red tongue after drinking it, he had to admit it was kinda good.
…Why was it stiff now? Why? Why in hell? Whyyyy?
***
No. No, I didn't do it. Whatever do you want, man? Pizzato.
Wait, what does that mean? Hm… Pizza… to… Pizza Tokyo.
***
Maybe he should have shot Kate.
***
One… Two… Seven… Five… Three… Two… One…
***
Why did it press that button? Why? Why? Why? Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?Why?
***
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!
***
…
How long has it been? he wondered. Minutes? Hours? Years? Without the rhythm of time, it was impossible to tell.
The void played cruel tricks. Sometimes, he thought he heard whispers—his own voice, or maybe someone else's, though the words never made sense. He strained to listen, but they were always just out of reach.
And then came the memories. Not the comforting kind, but fragmented shards of his life—his mother's voice calling him for dinner, the sound of rain on the roof of his childhood home, even just the sounds of cars in the street in front of his house. They came unbidden, sharp and vivid, cutting through the darkness like knives. Each one reminded him of what he no longer had.
This isn't real. It can't be real, he told himself. But what was real? The world he left behind? Or this?
The darkness whispered back: This is forever.
He tried to deny it, tried to imagine he was still alive, still whole, still someone, but the void was relentless. There was no one to hear his denials, no one to save him. Just him, and the vast nothingness, stretching on for what felt like decades. Or centuries.
The thought crept in slowly, a cold truth that sank its claws deep into what was left of his mind: I shouldn't have pressed the button.
Before, he thought that if he had a time machine, he would use it to travel back to the cringiest moments of life and undo them. Like when he had a whole argument with his first crush and told her that Albert Einstein's full name was actually Albert Frankeinstein.
Now, the very memory of that event seemed so far away. All he remembered correctly and truly wished for was to change that one moment—the one where he pressed that stupid button.
"...? Ah…"
As he "looked" into the void, a familiar blue light flickered here and there. Of course, Noah was conscious that it was merely a fabrication of his spirit, but at that point, he didn't care anymore.
Back when he was still alive, he felt quickly bored if he didn't have 10 to 20 games—most of which he barely played—a TV on and good Internet connection. Now, this imaginary blue spark was enough to keep him entertained for an untold amount of time.
Dancing up, left, right, down, right-up, left-up, down again, on and on.
There were so many sparks and they were all unpredictable. Getting bored of them was almost impossible. This was his sole source of happiness.