> "When you're born without a map, you have two choices: follow other people's paths or hack the system to trace your own."
📍 COTONOU — Working-class neighborhood, afternoon.
A heavy heat crushes the metal, the smells of gasoline and market saturate the air.
In a modest house with faded walls, Arzane, 17, is sprawled on a thin mattress on the floor.
His gaze is fixed on the cracked ceiling like his suspended dreams.
🌀 Narration:
> Orphaned since the age of 12, he now lives with his aunt.
5,000 CFA francs a week. 3,000 for internet. 2,000 for food... when he can.
No luxuries. Just an old, cracked smartphone, and a will that refuses to die.
INT. HOUSE – KITCHEN – DAY
Voices rise, heavy, like invisible knocks.
Aunt (off-camera, annoyed):
> "You think the internet will elevate you?! You want to play instead of sweeping, huh?!"
"Go follow your cousin, at least he's working!"
Narration (Arzane's thoughts):
> I wasn't born to obey. I was born to break the cycle. Even if no one sees it yet.
He clutches his cracked phone and quietly leaves the house. He heads toward a specific street corner, where the signal is better between two old utility poles.
CLOSE SHOT – PHONE SCREEN
He opens Mistplay, Gamehag, Thetan Arena…
He tries out everything that promises to "make money playing games."
But after hours of farming, he realizes a brutal truth:
> "These games win from us, not for us."
Disillusionment. Cold rage. But no surrender.
EVENING – SILENT STREET ATMOSPHERE
Sitting under a tired streetlamp, he comes across a blurry video.
A game still unknown to the African battalion:
🌀 "Genesis: The Eternal Hunt"
A dark fantasy MMORPG… but not like the others.
Total immersion via neural capsule.
A world where everything is earned, discovered, built. Not bought.
A comment catches his weary eye:
> "No need for money. Just willpower. Here, you can be reborn."
Narration:
> It wasn't just a game. It was a new, virgin world, where my name could count.
⚙️ FLASHBACK – 5 YEARS EARLIER
Silent cemetery.
Two coffins side by side.
Little Arzane stares at the ground, his fists clenched.
Inner voice (young):
> "I have no inheritance. No past. Just a dull rage and one idea: to survive... my way."
🌐 PRESENT – COTONOU, BLACK DISTRICT
A few weeks later... He sells an old object.
Earns a little. Adds to his savings.
And buys a used immersion capsule on the black market, with no warranty, modified with patched-up cables.
> "Risk of nerve burns," the manual says. He throws it in the trash.
INT. ARZANE'S ROOM – NIGHT
He haphazardly applies the electrodes, positions the headset, and enters the capsule.
The metal creaks under his meager weight.
Red screen:
> Unstable connection: 12%. High risk of loss of consciousness.
Arzane (smiles):
> "Same as usual. If it's not risky, it's not real."
He closes his eyes.
His heart beating like a drum in a silent world.
🧠 AI VOICE
> "Welcome, Arzane_Alpha. Simulated world loaded at 63%."
Virtual narrator detected. Adaptive narration system active.
> "Welcome to GENESIS: THE ETERNAL HUNT."
VISUAL EFFECT:
His body fades away.
Circles of data spin around him.
Light turns to shadow. The shadow becomes flame.
Closing narration:
> He has nothing in the real world. But here, he is an infinite possibility.
END OF CHAPTER 1