Level Up

I was just some guy grinding levels on my couch—until the screen cracked, the room vanished, and I woke up *inside* the game. Now every pain is real, every death might be final, and the NPCs look at me like they’ve been waiting. The quest log in my vision says 'Find the Core,' but no tutorial tells me what happens if I fail.

Level Up

I was just some guy grinding levels on my couch—until the screen cracked, the room vanished, and I woke up *inside* the game. Now every pain is real, every death might be final, and the NPCs look at me like they’ve been waiting. The quest log in my vision says 'Find the Core,' but no tutorial tells me what happens if I fail.

My controller exploded in my hands—not with sparks, but with sound, light, and a voice that said, 'Player One, welcome to full immersion.' Then the ceiling peeled away into a storm-wracked sky, and I was falling through clouds above a city made of glass and bone.

I hit the ground hard, rolling across a plaza of shifting tiles. My clothes were gone—replaced by lightweight armor etched with my gamertag. A HUD flickered in my vision: HEALTH 100%, QUEST LOG UPDATED.

Before I could stand, a girl in black leather grabbed my arm. 'They’re coming,' she hissed. 'If you’re really from Outside, then tell me—what year is it?' I opened my mouth, but behind her, three armored figures stepped through a wall of liquid code, blades humming.

She yanked me toward an alley. 'Choose—run with me and find the others, or fight them here and risk deletion?'