In the year 2026, an unprecedented technological leap was made by Far Caster, Inc. With the help of various research institutions throughout the U.S. and Japan, they developed the first full-dive VR system, which would come to be known as the Kabuto system. The system displayed images, sounds, and sensations by directly interfacing with the user's nervous system. The Kabuto system and its flagship game, Ninth Oasis, quickly became an international sensation. Ninety million Ninth Oasis copies sold worldwide, and competitive play of the game saw a level of popularity only rivaled by professional baseball, football, and soccer. Nine years have passed since then, and Far Caster, Inc. has finally released its next game, Ferrum. The game has garnered significant interest for its cutting-edge use of AI that promises to adapt to the actions of every individual player. This AI has been given the name GM.
The West Gate
12:15 P.M.
Minutes after the greyskins were repelled, Enzo found himself sitting on the ground within the West Gate. The group had formed up in a circle, with the corpse of Melkior laying in the center. There was a distinct feeling of listlessness now that the danger was gone, and the party was unsure of what to do next. Elias paced along the outside of the circle. Tantalus stood with his hands on his hips, looking down at the corpse with a mixture of sadness and regret on his face. Volta sat off to the side, her back to a wall and knees pulled to her chest.
Rachel was the first to speak. “How did you guys know him?”
“Huh?” Elias said, pulled out of his reverie. “We all know each other from our college’s Gaming Club.”
“Which college?” Tantalus asked.
“Does it matter?” Elias muttered quietly.
Tantalus shrugged.
“The University of Iowa,” Elias said. “His name was Kevin Avery. I never really knew the guy that well, but… He didn’t deserve this.”
“Come on,” Enzo said venomously. “He’s not dead.” Everyone in the group looked at Enzo as he spoke, some with hope, and some with anger. “Our only reason for believing he’s dead is that an entity claiming to be a malevolent AI said so. It’s science fiction! There’s no way something like that would happen in real life! There are so many simpler explanations! Show me evidence that this isn’t some kind of prank meant to freak us out! Trust me, nobody’s in any actual danger!” Enzo was shouting by the end of his short monologue. He didn't know if he was shouting in response to the concerned looks he was getting from the rest of the group or if he was shouting in order to convince himself of what he was saying.
Enzo suddenly felt a sudden pain, and the force of some unseen blow knocked him to the ground. For a moment, he thought he had been shot. As he looked up, he saw Elias standing there with his fist clenched.
Elias had punched him.
“There’s your evidence!” Now, Elias was shouting. “That pain you’re feeling, the photorealistic fidelity of the world around us, the feeling of your heart pumping, none of this could have been modeled by mortal hands! Not in this century! Only a god could create the world around you. For a game like this, a rampant AI is the simplest solution! Snap out of it! Open your eyes and see what’s in front of you!”
Enzo got to his feet, willing the bruise to heal, and he looked at Elias. Elias was clearly upset. If Enzo had said anything in that moment, Elias probably would have hit him again. He had never been punched in the face like that before. It hurt a lot, but it mostly just angered him. Clearly, the hit had activated his “fight” response. Enzo wanted to punch Elias, but, on some level, he knew that he was in the wrong, so he turned and walked away.
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Enzo started walking toward the City, but he had no particular destination in mind. Tall buildings towered in the distance, but the structures closer to him were significantly smaller. Enzo wasn’t paying attention to where he walked. The anger pushed him forward like a riptide. His heavy footsteps struck the sidewalk in a repetitive series of thumps. Eventually, Enzo found himself in a public park.
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He could still see the great concrete wall that circled the City from the park. It was a massive, featureless edifice of concrete that seemed totally impregnable from Enzo's limited perspective. The huge sixty-foot-high wall made him wonder what threat could possibly warrant such a massive undertaking.
Certainly, the Deluvians weren’t such a threat that the NPCs had to build something so huge. Sure, they had lost Melkior, but that was only because the greyskins had caught them off guard.
"Lost."
Was Melkior actually dead? Enzo turned around in a circle and tried to really take in the world around him.
It was fall in the City. Some of the leaves around him had started to turn yellow, but most of the leaves still retained their proud green coloration. Enzo breathed in the autumn air as a cold breeze blew past. The temperature was a comfortable seventy degrees Fahrenheit, but he could feel the promise of bitter cold in the air. It felt exactly like the real world.
Enzo fell to his knees. He felt the dirt on his fingers. His body was different, but the world around him was real. He closed his eyes and saw the menu shining back at him, a bright argent contradiction.
Yes, he was in a video game. Yes, he was in the real world. Somehow, both of these things were true at the same time. In that moment, Enzo realized without a doubt that Elias and Melkior were right. Such a world could only be created by an entity with the power of a god. The world around him had been created by GM, and he could die just as easily as Melkior did.
Kneeling alone in that park, Enzo wept.
“Umm… hello… umm… mister? Are you okay?” The voice of a child drew his attention. Enzo looked up and saw that the source of the voice was a five-year-old girl that was peering at him curiously. Concern was evident on her face. He quickly wiped the tears from his eyes. She wasn’t wearing a blue uniform, so she must have been an NPC. The kid was wearing a patched-up dress, and she held a stuffed rabbit that was similarly patched. Was this some kind of scripted event? Enzo's confusion pulled him out of his mental breakdown.
“I’m fine,” Enzo said automatically. He looked around. Tents had been erected all around the park. There must have been two dozen tents in that park. It was a shantytown. “Do you live there?” Enzo pointed to a tent.
“Oh, yes, mommy and I have been living in this park for a long time,” she said. “You’re a Revenant, aren’t you?” the little girl asked, but she continued a second later without waiting for my response. “I've seen a loooot of Revenants today. Mr. Duke said you’d save us and defeat the day-loog.”
“Mr. Duke?” Enzo began to ask, but the girl kept talking.
“Mommy says you Revenants don’t have souls. Do you have a soul, Mr. Revenant?”
“What? Yes, I think so,” Enzo said, baffled.
“That’s good,” the girl said. “Mommy’s probably wrong. Animals don’t have souls, and they can’t talk. Revenants can talk, so they must have souls.”
There was a long silence. She was done talking, apparently.
“Actually, I have a question for you,” Enzo said. He reached into the satchel at his waist and pulled out some of the black slips of paper they had given him when he first arrived. The slips of paper were decorated with grey designs over a black background. The edges of the papers had small, elaborate designs that looked like words or numbers. However, if the designs were text, it clearly didn’t use any kind of European alphabet.
“Is this money?” Enzo asked, holding out a few bills.
The kid’s eyes went wide with surprise and jealousy. “Yes. Did you go to school, Mister?”
“Kind of,” Enzo said quickly. “How much money is this?”
“A hundred Ren,” she said as if Enzo was really stupid. “Everybody knows that.”
“And how much could I buy with a hundred Ren?” Enzo asked.
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said, annoyed that Enzo was now asking difficult questions. “Really nice shoes, enough food to feed ten people, a hundred candy bars.”
“Is a candy bar one Ren?” Enzo asked.
“Oh, yeah,” she said, excited to be talking about candy bars. “It says so on the vending machine.”
“Thanks,” Enzo said. He held out the two black bills. “Take these to your mom, okay?”
With a smile, the little girl enthusiastically grabbed the bills from Enzo's hand.
“Thanks, Mister! I’ll make sure to tell mommy that Revenants are nice.” She ran back to the shantytown. After a few minutes of staring out at the pond, Enzo decided to go back to the West Gate.