I returned to my room and began working on my computer. All in all, it took less than half an hour to replace the motherboard with an older one. This "older one" was a fifteen-year-old motherboard I had salvaged from a PC I'd picked up at a garage sale for fifteen cents. I couldn't quite explain why I'd held onto it after assembling my main PC, but I guess I couldn't bear to part with all those old components I'd accumulated. Now, they were finally coming in handy, and here I was, browsing the internet on a zombie PC with a microprocessor nearly as ancient as I am.

Alright, I don't mean my new self, which I've only had for a day, but rather the eighteen-year-old Dolores. In theory, I am Dolores, right?

Shit, this thing is getting complicated; better not think about it!

Of course, there was no chance of playing any Dreamland games on it.

The old motherboard didn't fit perfectly, so I had to remove some cards, but considering it was an emergency situation, it sufficed.

It operates about as swiftly as a low-level zombie, even emitting peculiar noises instead of remaining completely silent, but it gets the job done in the end.

I rely on one of those open-source operating systems; they're the only ones that can still function with such ancient motherboards and CPUs. Nevertheless, I still had to make a few adjustments to make it run.

So, what's the latest buzz? Dreamland is in ruins! Completely wiped out! Shattered, as they tell it.

All the computers that were linked to it, even those just quietly chugging along in the background for Mephisto World, went kaput. Over a hundred million computers worldwide fried! Some even sparked fires, but most just vanished into the night with a soft sigh.

People are divided on the cause. Some claim it's the integrated kill switch. Others argue there's no such thing and that it was just a runaway software loop that overheated all those CPUs. Seriously? One hundred million CPUs torched by a simple software glitch?

It's so fun to see them trying to argue that the kill switch doesn't exist!

However, many theories leaned towards the idea that a game function accidentally triggered the kill switch.

If it exists, then it was an accident? Yeah, sure.

Well, whatever happened, the outcome was a sudden drop in global electricity consumption by around fifty million kilowatts in a single night. That's a staggering fifty gigawatts! It's equivalent to the combined output of multiple nuclear power stations. Some folks are even attempting to celebrate it as the day when people broke free from the matrix.

Well, it's worth noting that not all computers were affected, certainly less than ten percent of the global computer population. And it wasn't every computer connected to Dreamland but those linked to Mephisto's world, which actually constituted the majority of Dreamland-connected machines, by the way.

Could this have been a coordinated attack by multiple governments on Dreamland's Mephisto's World servers? I can't say for sure, but it certainly appears that way.

But what would be the motive behind it? The game had been inaccessible for some time, despite the company's claims that they were doing everything they could to restore it.

Could it be that someone didn't want it to be restored and took measures to ensure it wouldn't happen? Was it the work of a rogue so-called intelligence agency, or was it an officially sanctioned action?

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Perhaps some had privileged access to it, causing envy among others? And then, the others took action to level the playing field?

If this game was indeed enabling the development of unique abilities, it's understandable why many would be interested in controlling it.

This entire saga was affecting multiple nations, and it will undoubtedly have international repercussions.

Well, whoever was behind it made absolutely certain that Mephisto's World won't be making a comeback, and access to it is gone for good.

Well, I'll never find out what happened to the Lynx and Alice now...

I took a deep breath.

Could it really be? Wasn't I just in that world a few hours ago? I don't need a computer connection to access it, but does "there" even exist now?

Did this computer mass extinction event occur after I left? Or could I possibly have been the one who triggered this catastrophe?

No, that doesn't make sense. I can't believe it.

Alright, but then what's going to happen to the Lynx, Sid, and Alice? And what about Spartacius and that girl, Tina?

I was aware that White Flower had inspected the cavern the last time before she went into her frozen state to honor Dolores' request for "solitude." I also know she made an attempt to recover the ring but was unsuccessful. She observed that they had vacated the cavern and assumed they had escaped and were unharmed, but was that the actual situation?

Was it even possible for me to conduct an investigation? Does that world continue to exist after the infrastructure supporting it has been obliterated?

The door to my room was suddenly kicked open, revealing a fully equipped Lola in the doorway.

"Dol, we're heading to school. Are you joining us or not?"

She grinned and expertly flicked her blonde hair with a toss of her head: Lola, the modern-day samurai in flesh and blood, dressed in her alluring sexy armor and adorned with war paint underlying her long eyelashes that could shatter the hearts of our unfortunate classmates.

I smiled back but shook my head.

“Nah,” – I answered – “I'm not in the mood!”

She shrugged, slightly taken aback by my blunt confession.

"Alright, I'll tell them you're not feeling well, but promise me you won't go roaming the streets."

She closed the door, leaving me alone with my quandary.

What should I do about my friends from Mephisto's world? Did that world even still exist? Where had it been created, and in which universe? I couldn't just dissolve myself and become an avatar in a digital realm, only to return to the real world later.

Or was that the case? Did I genuinely enter that computer-generated realm and return at a later time? If such a connection was possible, could that be the reason they dismantled that world?

So, what would occur if I attempted to return to that realm now? Would I find myself in a deteriorating pixelated world? Could I even survive in such a place?

Since I can't instantly summon a lightfire again and must wait for the spell's cooldown, might I be disassembled in a world that's falling apart?

If the world is indeed deteriorating, can I still rescue them? Would the Lynx even be the Lynx now?

I sighed. There's no way to know unless I try.

Yeah, but would that knowledge help me if I die gathering it?

But could I live with myself if I attempt to deliberately ignore them? What if they are in a predicament and need help? What if helping them was still possible now but will no longer be later?

I was already angry with White Flower, as I thought that she had prematurely abandoned her investigation, with Dolores for her impractical demand for separation that caused all the mess, with Cala because she accepted White Flower's decision without first checking with Alice.

I sighed. Well, that was me in the past. What an impractical mess I had been!

Taking a deep breath, I decided that I should return there. My magic will keep me alive... I hope.

I chanted the incantation for my lightfire spell, preparing my return, and then, amidst a dazzling display of light, I departed for the cavern.

I can configure a maximum of nine distinct lightfires, most of which are designated for locations I hold dear. Currently, I had just two I was working with, with one set to that cavern and the other back to my room.

I hope I will not have to lose any more of the remaining seven; those were very important locations that were almost impossible to reach in normal ways, like the Death Node I had just visited before.

But did those have any value now if the world was lost?

Upon materializing, a deafening blast of thunder reverberated through the cavern, causing dust and pebbles to rain down from the rocky ceiling.