Back to the real world

Everything went black.

The camera on the VR rig kicked on, and once again I could see my computer through the weirdly semimagnified lenses.

The Aegis was thankfully running at a normal temperature.

All of the soreness I'd felt from the long walk, carrying the boar, and everything else I'd done was gone. That said, I was thirsty. And hungry.

I checked the clock. I'd been logged in for nearly twelve hours.

It was almost three in the morning, and I was getting tired. But I'd told Valentia I'd be back in four hours, which meant I had about two hours before I needed to log back in.

I unbuckled the Aegis, pulled it off, and ran a hand through my hair. I got up, my legs feeling a little wobbly, and headed into the kitchen.

I grabbed another Coke from the fridge and slammed half of it in one go. Then I made a sandwich and left it on the counter while I went to relieve myself.

I sat back down at my desk, ran a hand over my face, and took a bite of my sandwich.

If I logged back in immediately after eating, maybe I could get some sleep in-game. I had no idea if that would actually help me outside the game or if I'd just end up more tired.

I could also go to bed, then set the system clock back a few hours and see if that changed the time in-game. But if it didn't work…

I decided I didn't want to risk upsetting Valentia any further.

Which was weird. I was apparently now concerned about upsetting an AI-controlled NPC.

I finished my sandwich, got up, and stretched. If I was going to spend another twelve hours sitting in this chair, I should at least get a little exercise first.

It had only been about an hour, but I figured I was ready to log back in. That would let me get some game sleep and test whether the time dilation worked both ways.

I was reaching for the Aegis when I noticed something - a little blinking light was flashing in the bottom-right corner of my vision.

I froze.

I looked at the Aegis sitting on my desk. How the hell did I have a notification if the headset wasn't on?

I frowned and dropped back into my chair. I did a quick search for anyone else having the same issue.

I had no idea how the Aegis actually worked. If it was reading my brainwaves, was it somehow scrambling my brain? What kind of long-term side effects would wearing this thing have?

I couldn't find anything.

There was nothing about anyone experiencing anything like this. The forums were mostly full of other alpha testers talking about how incredible the game was. There were a couple of posts about the overheating problem, but that had already been patched.

I sat back.

This was definitely weird.

I brought up the notifications.

I stared at the notifications, dismissing each one after I read it.

How was this even possible? Was I losing my mind? Was the Aegis somehow boiling my brain?

I searched for the side effects of electrical cranial stimulation.

The results were mostly reassuring. Tingling or itching. Skin irritation. Headaches. Dizziness. Possible flashes of light.

Nothing about being able to actively manipulate a game interface while sitting in my apartment with the headset on my desk.

This was worrying.

But… I didn't feel bad. There was no pain. No dizziness. No headache. Maybe this was just some weird side effect of the Aegis that they'd patch out.

I had no idea.

I'd been logged out for two hours now, and I was torn. Did I log back in? Or did I say fuck it and walk away from potentially the most awesome game I'd ever played?

I wasn't ready to walk away. I wanted to see more. The whole thing was so realistic. The NPCs seemed so lifelike.

No. This was something I was going to stick with until I was sure it was actually dangerous.

I strapped the Aegis back onto my head and booted the game.

The familiar Arcadia Interactive logo appeared, but instead of going straight into the game, another patch screen appeared.

I selected Install.

The screen went black. Then the familiar white text appeared.

The number began climbing.

At 42%, a new window opened.

I frowned.

User-specific neural architecture?

The window disappeared. A few moments later, another one appeared.

I frowned. What the hell did nociceptive mean?

I hit Accept.

The window disappeared, and the installation continued.

At 83%, another window appeared.

Then it stopped.

Not for a few seconds. For more than a minute.

I watched the number. Nothing.

Then:

The next window appeared immediately.

I hit Continue.

The game screen appeared.

THE FIVE REALMS
An Open-World Neural RPG
Five Realms. One World. No Script.

The logo flickered, then froze.

I waited ten seconds. Twenty. A minute.

Come on.

The screen went black again. For another twenty seconds, nothing happened.

Then:

I waited. There was no progress bar. No percentage. Nothing.

The seconds dragged on. Finally:

The game loaded.

Valentia and Ami were curled up together beside the fire.

It was still night. The low fire crackled softly, its coals glowing beneath the meat they'd hung over the makeshift rack.

I tried to move.

Nothing happened.

I could look around, but that was it.

Was the game frozen? Had it lagged? Did I need to restart?

Exit, I thought.

Nothing.

I tried again.

Still nothing.

I brought up my character sheet.

It appeared immediately.

Good. At least the interface was responding.

I closed it.

Exit.

Nothing. I waited. Finally, a message appeared.

I waited. Ten seconds. Twenty. Thirty. The message remained.

I stared at the message.

I couldn't feel the chair beneath me. I couldn't feel the Aegis on my head. I couldn't feel anything outside the game. And for the first time, that thought didn't seem like an interesting feature.

It seemed terrifying.

I tried to move again. This time, I stumbled forward.

Once I recovered my balance, I stopped.

This wasn't good.