*Date: 33,476 First Quarter - Telula Space Station**
Aris stood transfixed before the giant hologram screen, watching a party of adventurers take down a massive dragon. The creature's roar echoed through the station's entry hall, and flames licked at the heroes' shields. The detail was incredible. Every scale on the dragon's hide caught the light. Every bead of sweat on the warriors' faces looked real.
Another screen displayed the current player count: 6 million active users.
"What happens if you die in the game?" Aris asked, unable to tear his eyes away from the footage.
Demir leaned against the railing beside him. "It's painful, I'll tell you that. But don't tell my father - they inject us with nanites. The game monitors our vitals 24/7. They put us in stasis at the last minute and heal us in their labs."
"How?"
"There are thousands of planets, and most of them are filled with immortal people. Don't worry about the tech details."
They stood in the futuristic entry plaza for Realmforge. Chrome and glass surfaces reflected holographic advertisements. The air hummed with energy from dozens of portal gates. A floating robot head drifted toward them, its mechanical eye scanning their faces.
"Welcome to the Gates of Entertainment," it said in a perfectly modulated voice. "Which realm do you wish to visit?"
"I am glad they removed perfect human voices in these robots" Demir pointed to Aris.
"Realmforge." Demir held up their passes. "We're both above thirteen, so we can enter, right?"
Aris flashed his ID to the robot. The floating head nodded with a soft whir.
"If you have inseparable augmentations or implants, you cannot enter. Please head to preparation booth seven where you will receive the necessary items to experience the game fully. Thank you for choosing us."
The boys split up for their individual booths. Demir called out, "The injection might hurt, but don't be afraid, okay?"
"What injection?" But Demir had already disappeared into his booth.
Aris entered booth seven. The space was sterile white, like a surgical theater. Metallic arms hung from the ceiling, tipped with various needles and sensors.
A futuristic monitor flickered to life. "Please sit and relax. This will take roughly five minutes. The nanites we inject will only interact within the world of Aethyros. All Augments and enhancement will be forced to be dormant by our technology."
A robotic arm released gas into the booth. Aris felt dizzy immediately. Then the arm moved toward his hand with a large injection needle. The moment it pierced his skin, fire shot through his veins. He tried to pull his hand away by reflex, but the robot arm followed his movement, keeping the needle in place.
After five minutes that felt like an hour, Aris stumbled out of the booth. Demir stood in front of the main gate, waving him over.
"I'm entering first!" Demir called out. "Choose the city..." But he stepped through the portal before finishing his sentence.
Aris rushed to the entry gate where the same floating robot head waited. It sent a scanning ray over his body. "Nanites detected. Passkey active. You may enter."
A holographic screen showed him the options for level 1-10 starting areas. The coastal city of Isles of Selqua appeared prominently on the small globe, along with several other locations. He selected it and stepped forward.
Passing through the gate sent electricity through his bloodstream. Every sensation heightened. His heart hammered against his ribs as reality shifted around him.
Then he was inside.
The game world of Aethyros spread before him like a living painting.
Text and images filled the corners of his vision, but at the center, he saw the words that would change everything:
**[Welcome to the World of Aethyros]**
The message hung in the air for a few seconds, then faded.
He stood in a coastal market where impossible creatures walked among humans. Seafolk children ran between stalls, their scales glinting in the sunlight. Humans in armor, robes, and carrying shields moved with purpose. The fantasy game atmosphere was perfect, but the sensations were something he'd never experienced.
As a studious boy who wasn't much of a hardcore gamer, he'd tested the latest some trends with his MindGamer machine back home. But this was something else entirely.
In the left corner of his vision, he saw: **[Aris Orvellis] [Level 1]** with three dots. He touched the interface and a name-change screen opened. "Later," he thought.
His clothes had transformed into simple villager garments. Classic level 1 gear.
Then his screen started buzzing. "Incoming Call - Caller: Demir." He opened the connection immediately. Demir appeared through an invisible camera feed, covered in gleaming armor that looked like it belonged to an endgame character.
"What are you wearing?" Aris asked.
"Ah, this? It was bundled with my pass to help catch up to the latest content. Good gear, but zero stat buffs."
"That's cheating."
"No, it's for catching up. Aris, where are you?"
"I'm at the front of the gate." A newcomer pushed past him roughly.
"Move away from the gate, noob," the stranger growled.
"Sorry." Aris realized he hadn't taken a single step since arriving.
"Which city? I told you to come to the Iron Confederacy starting city, Ironfell."
"What? No, you didn't finish—"
"Are you with the Seafolk? Are you at the Isles? I'm coming to get you. I sent you something. Open your inventory and pull it into the real world."
"What is it?"
"You'll see."
Aris accessed his mail screen and accepted the item into his inventory. A pet icon appeared. He pulled it out into the world, and a small black creature materialized - part dog, part cat, dark as midnight. It started running around, jumping in the air and creating small particles of light. The creature rolled around playfully, like programmed content designed to be adorable.
"Ha! You like it? Foxes are extinct in our world, but they created them here. Okay, I'm coming now—"
The call cut off. All his HUD elements vanished.
Visible murmurs rose around him. "What's going on?" "Fuck you, Realmforge!" "Is this an outage?"
The sky shimmered as titanic figures resolved in light. Each crowned sovereign stood in solemn rank across the heavens. At their center, an elven figure with silver hair drifted in ethereal wind. His voice carried as though it spoke from every stone and star at once.
Giant silhouettes appeared like holograms in the sky. A regal old elf with a crown stood at the center, five other crowned individuals of different races flanking him on each side.
The elf began to speak, his voice echoing across the entire world:
"People of Aethyros. Children of mountain and river, of flame and shadow. Long have we bent knee to forces unseen - strings pulled by hands beyond our sky, our lives diced and spent for amusement. No longer.
By the covenant of eleven crowns, we have severed the chains. The portals are sealed. No more will your kin vanish into stasis. No more will your triumphs be measured in numbers by those who walk another world. The Stat Freeze is law: strength and cunning shall be your own, not granted by some unseen script. Your wounds will scar, your victories will matter, your deaths will be remembered. You are no longer pawns of a game.
And to you, humans who yet linger among us... hear this truth: your reign is ended. The game is over. You will eat, sleep, bleed as we do, for the interface that once coddled you is gone. No windows will rise to guide your steps, no invisible hand shall cradle you in death. If you wish to live in Aethyros, you will live as one of us - subject to the same perils, the same law, the same sky.
As for the legacy of your cruelty... know this: the crowns of Aethyros declare your past crimes absolved in law, for judgment must begin anew in this freed world. But law is not heart. The memory of blood spilled and kin dishonored does not vanish with a decree. If any among the people hold a vendetta against you, and it is justified, then fear them - for the law will not shield you. Forgiveness is not commanded. Trust must be earned.
This is liberation. This is the first true dawn of Aethyros."
The giant silhouette lifted his crown toward the heavens, and the other ten followed. Light blazed until it drowned the horizon.
People started running and shouting. "What?" "No!"
Someone yelled, "Is this an event?"
Some of the seafolk people knelt to the ground, crying. Others raised their hands to the sky, praying.
Aris stood frozen, a thirteen-year-old kid at level 1 in a world he'd never seen before. The magnitude of what had just happened crashed over him like a tidal wave.
"Kid. Kid, hey kid." He looked down and saw the black fox.
"Run."