In the year 20xx, there was a massive breakthrough in the Artificial Intelligence Industry. The A.I. developed was not only capable of adapting to different situations and learn, but it was able to discern and understand even the small nuances humans make.
Four years later, video games have begun to utilize this A.I. for more interactive and realistic gameplay, which led to the development of a fantasy game that everyone claims to have revolutionized the video game industry.
Beyond.
It was a single-player open-world RPG computer game that offered the highest level of freedom and diversity like never before.
It was also one of the very few single-player games that was produced amongst the multitude of multi-player games that dominated the game market.
Initially, there have been a lot of complaints about it being a single-player game, but those remarks soon died down as more people got to experience the game
High level of freedom, randomized NPCs with life-like AIs, stunning graphics, auto-generated animations, incredibly large randomized maps, immeasurably large perk trees, and hyper-realistic gameplay. It went beyond what all online games were capable of.
The most prominent aspect of this game was that there was no predetermined main quest and quests. This absurd thing was only possible due to the advanced AI that managed the game. The AI would auto-generate the quests based on the actions and decisions of the player, which meant that everyone would have their own unique experience when playing the game.
Be it being a hero to vanquish the demon king and saving the world, or a necromancer who is on a path for true immortality, or even as an Orc king who would lead his own kingdom to glory, the players’ choices forged their own world.
Then, a year after the game’s release, there was once again a glorious turning point that further solidified the position of the best RPG game that has ever been made.
The development of mods.
The game company, for the one year anniversary of Beyond, decided to sell the creator tools separately.
People started to utilize this to make countless mods that can be integrated into the game, which was then shared with the public.
Thus began the era of mods. Ranging from the mods that altered the small details to ones that revamped the entire game, there was an endless stream of mods being created and downloaded. Exceptional mods that people wondered why it wasn’t included in the first place became the norm for the players.
There were mods that were highly inappropriate or created for the sole purpose of ‘shits and giggles’, but those were...remarkably glorious in its own way.
Of course, there was a separate reason why people loved modding Beyond: the AI in the game perfectly integrated all the mods installed into the game. For example, even the game’s lore and history could be changed depending on which mods are installed.
With tremendous popularity, the game has reached a level where no others would be able to catch up to it in the same generation.
***
Somewhere on earth, in a dimly lit room, a silhouette of a man was staring at the monitor with such intensity that one wouldn’t be surprised if lasers came out of his eyes.
The eerie light that came off from the monitor reflected off the metal wheelchair in the corner of the room.
From the dust collected on the wheelchair, it was obvious that it has not been used for quite some time.
The clicking and clacking of mouse and keyboard reverberated throughout the otherwise silent room. The irregular intervals of the clicks and the silent whirling of the supercomputer only pointed towards one conclusion: He was playing a video game.
More specifically, it was Beyond, the best game that has ever been made in human history. Or at least that was what the man thought, along with most of the human population. After a good hour or two of playing the game, his hands suddenly stopped. He drank some cold coffee that was on the table and thrusted his arms upwards, giving his body a good stretch.
He turned his sight back towards the screen, wearing a satisfied smile on his face. In the monitor screen, there were figures of colossal chunks of land floating in the void that was reflecting back in his eyes.
It was a grand structure that he has spent seven months in real life building, using both creator tools, mods, and in-game mechanics.
The Sanctuary of the Void Dragon: Drozinkrel.
It consisted of massive floating continents that he had built for himself. In it existed a plethora of various geographies and cultural structures, thousands of unique races coexisting together, and most importantly, served as an epicenter of thousands of different dimensions, all connected through dimensional portals. An artificial sun and moon revolved around these continents, which made it seem almost ethereal, if not for the vast emptiness of the void that surrounded the continents.
While working on this “continental” project, the man rarely stepped outside of his home, rarely slept, and spent most of his time in front of his computer. This wasn’t a big deal though, as the man took particular relish in doing everything that was related to the game. It wasn’t as if he could do anything anyways.
7 years ago, after an accident, the man was paralyzed from the waist down, making him unable to use his legs for the rest of his life. Fortunately for him, he had more than enough finances to enjoy his life doing whatever he wanted due to his previous line of work.
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Unfortunately for him, he also realized that he had to piss sitting down for the rest of his life too.
It was at that time when he started playing Beyond, which he immediately fell in love with and continued playing until this date.
In his game with over 500+ mods installed, he went on countless adventures, collected an endless amount of treasures, and built structures grander than the palaces of kings.
The thing he took most pride in, however, was his character.
The man pressed a key on his keyboard, which brought up his character sheet. The panel on the left showed a 3D image of a young man with greyish black hair and golden eyes, which was the current form of the character. The space on the right showed the stats and equipment information in an organized manner.
[Name: Dracovus Aregon]
[Level: 245003200000]
[Race: Primordial Dragon (Polymorph: High Human)]
[Gender: N/A]
[Titles: One Who Does Not Exist, The Conflicted, Sovereign of the Void, The Primordial, Void Dragon, Way of the Void, Ruler of Space and Time, Conqueror of the Realms, Dragon Emperor, Embodiment of Magic, Overlord of the Immortal Ones, Natural Enemy of the Divine, Supreme God Slayer, God Devourer, Massacrer of the Divine, God Slayer, Legendary Blacksmith, Alchemist of Miracles, Martial Grandmaster, Mythical Tamer, (32 more…) ]
[Stamina: 2,492,000,600,000,000] [Mana: ∞ (Void Dragon Heart)]
[Vitality: 797,830,500,000,000]
[Strength: 1,227,800,000,000,000]
[Constitution: 970,003,000,000,000]
[Agility: 840,250,000,000,000]
[Dexterity: 820,346,000,000,000]
[Intelligence: 1,204,340,000,000,000]
[Wisdom: 1,412,780,000,000,000]
#Stats may be diminished due to the current form of the player.#
His character, he believed, was the most overpowered one in terms of base stats out of all the Beyond’s character he has ever seen, or at least the ones shared online. It was even more so considering the countless items, spells, skills, and perks that he had.
Of course, he had various different mods that affected this, and Dragon was a cheaty race that grew exponentially stronger just by being alive to begin with, but he was sure that he was a special case.
After all, he was able to choose the race ‘Dragon’ in the beginning even without any mods. Even if one used mods such as that, it only offered to only replace their character textures to that of a draconic creature.
In Beyond, there was a wide spectrum of races that players could choose from. And yes, there was even an option to play as various monster races.
However, amongst the ‘Elf’, ‘Dwarf’, ‘Human’, and the others, there was no such option as a ‘Dragon’ in the game. Or at least, there wasn’t supposed to be.
When starting the game, he chose this option without knowing that that was the case. So began his journey as a young dragonling in the default world, terrorizing kingdoms, exploring darkest caverns far beyond man’s reach, piling up legendary treasures in his inventory, and polymorphing into various different races such as humans, elves and dwarves to experience gameplay as that race. At least at the start.
After a while though, he quickly realized being a Dragon, presumably the most strongest race in the fantasy world, meant that his character’s growth in strength was exponential, unlike other races. Normally, if one played as any other race in Beyond, the rate at which their levels increased would diminish as they reached high levels, just like any other RPG games. In fact, reaching level 200 in this game was considered a substantially high level.
Soon enough, due to his preposterous growth rate, he found himself quickly running out of strong enemies to fight as he evolved, even though it has only been a couple of months since he started the game. However, it was a choice he never once regretted as the AI decided to give him special quests to balance the game: to travel to and conquer other dimensions.
While everyone playing the game was fighting common monsters in the mortal realm, he was ripping apart the arrogant gods in the Divine Realm, beating down Arch-Devils in Purgatory, and battling all the catastrophic mythological creatures from different dimensions that the AI could come up with.
And finally, at the final epilogue of this epic expedition, his character has transcended to inherit the authority of the Void, one of the four Primordial Powers in the infinite multiverse. Thus, the Void Dragon was born, strongest of all universes with no opponents to match its might.
Even the game AI seemed to have given up on generating new enemies that are worthy of his attention.
That was when he was 4 years into the game in real time.
From that point on, he just focused on building, crafting, creating unique NPCs and experimenting with mods, along with the occasional quests that involved puzzles when he was bored.
He even made five or ten mods himself for his own conveniences in-game.
Back in the present day, the man scratched chin and felt his unkempt beard chafing against his fingers. He looked back at the screen once more and found himself sighing. He had nothing new he could accomplish in this game, and the fact pained him.
After 7 years of devotion to the game, he finally decided to move on, and try to go enjoy the outside life more. Staying inside for too long is quite harmful to the health after all, although he never really got used to being in a wheelchair.
He put his hands on the keyboard and manipulated his character towards Drozinkrel.
The Void Realm in which it was situated in gave the grand structure a mysterious atmosphere.
A giant Dragon Lair situated in the center of the continent floating in a realm of nowhere.
It surely was a fitting place for the mightiest Dragon to meet its end.
To slumber amongst the solitude of the Void along with its possessions.
As he walked in the gargantuan main hall of his Lair, ornamented with the most elegant sculptures and decor befitting of an emperor, the various NPCs on either side of the hall bowed, as if to show their respect to the Legacy of their ruler and creator.
In the deepest part of the Dragon Lair, lay a cavern that extended to a radius of several kilometers. The cavern was so concentrated with the purest mana, that most beings who would dare step foot in here would perish from the sheer pressure of it.
At the very center of that deadly cavern, stood a man, unperturbed by the mana that threatened to crush any other man.
Suddenly, an immense aura of magic swirled around the man as his form began to change. About a kilometer in length, covered in black scales with greyish tips, and with brilliant golden eyes that saw through all, it was without a doubt a form of a mighty Dragon.
The man slowly dragged his mouse across the mouse pad, and with a melancholy glance at the screen, he confirmed the option for ‘Dragon Hibernation’.
Even though he wasn’t deleting the character and will perhaps come back to it again, he was still bitter about the whole situation. He has played as Dracovus for 6 whole years, and the thought of quitting the game still nagged on his mind.
“Oh well, I guess I’ll just sleep for now.”
After muttering something any responsible(?) adult would usually say, he pushed himself away from his desk. The force of the push rolled his chair all the way to the foot of the bed. He then lifted himself up from the chair and crawled his way to his pillow.
The moment his head hit the pillow, his consciousness went blank.
***
The Void.
A place where nothing exists.
But because nothing exists, it is also the origin of everything.
Before Time, there was nothing.
Before Space, there was nothing.
Before the light and the dark, there was nothing.
Before life, there was nothing.
From nothing, came everything.
In a space where nothing was supposed to exist, there was a single inexplicable spark. A spark that shouldn’t be able to exist. Like raging flames, the tiny spark tore apart the Void itself. It was a tear that transcended the laws of space and time, and through the cracks of the fissure, there was an image.
An image of a dimly lit room, where a single soul lay.