I woke up in darkness. For the first time, I felt a strange sense of comfort without the constant light. I tried looking around, but it was pitch black.

How? In a land where the sun doesn’t set, how could such a dark place exist?

I placed my hands on the ground, feeling the cold stone beneath me. This was man-made. A dungeon, maybe. I crawled around, searching, and eventually hit something solid. A door. Jackpot. Standing up, I felt around until I found the handle and slowly opened it

Upon opening the door, a pair of glowing yellow eyes greeted me. They were large and highly unnatural, two bright orbs without any visible pupils or whites. Those were not the eyes of a human. They belonged to a hooded figure, his face completely hidden in the darkness except for one thing: a set of white teeth, too large for any human. They formed a grin. I tried to Inspect but it returned nothing but static when I tried to focus on him. It was like looking at a hole in reality shaped vaguely like a person.

"Welcome, chosen one. We've been expecting you," a voice emanated from the hooded figure.

“Who are you? Where am I?” I asked, trying to keep calm.

"One question at a time, young one. I'm sure you have plenty." He spread his arms in a theatrical gesture. "To start with, I am the Guide, here to shepherd new players through the game."

They’re only giving me the tutorial now? Isn’t it a little late for that?

“You are currently deep in the catacombs of Caelivitas. Beyond me lies the road to the Undercity.” He raised his arms and pointed towards the darkness. Torches began to light up one by one, illuminating a long flight of stairs that disappeared into an endless pit below.

As we walked, I had to ask, “I heard the Undercity is the starting city for the dark. Why didn’t I start there?”

“Why indeed.” He pondered. “A glitch perhaps? Maybe during your character creation.” He stared at me with accusing eyes. “Either way, little point in wondering about it now”

“How did I get here?”

"Who knows? Maybe you were brought here by a little bird, a jellyfish..." His grin widened. "Or a smiling man." He turned away. "Does it really matter? You need to stop living in the past."

As we descended deeper, the air grew thicker, carrying a faint scent of damp stone and moss. I could hear faint echoes of something... distant music? Or was it just my imagination?

“What happened to the night?” I asked

“I’m afraid I can’t answer that. Seek out the oracle should you desire answers.”

I rolled my eyes. His flippant answers were starting to get to me. “And the Undercity? What is its connection to Caelivitas?”

“The library holds the answers you seek.”

“I only read litRPGs.”

“How unfortunate.”

The faint sounds were growing clearer now. It was definitely the sound of music, blending with the occasional burst of laughter and chatter. The bottomless pit was reaching an end, replaced with flashes of light that grew brighter with each step.

Soon, the once still darkness gave way to a warm, vibrant energy. At the end of the pit was a lively town. Music pulsed through the streets, colorful lights flashed overhead, and the joyful noise of celebration filled the air.

“Welcome to the Undercity” the Guide said.

“The people here sure are lively” I commented, noting the contrast with the stillness of Caelivitas.

“As they should be,” the Guide said. “Tell me, what do you think darkness represents?”

“Death, destruction, evil?”

“That’s what the Church of Light would have you believe. Is that why you chose the dark? To be evil?”

I shook my head deep in thought. “No, I would not consider myself evil.” I considered myself a rebel, maybe a bit of an anarchist. But outright evil? No.

“Precisely, there is nothing inherently good or evil but thinking about it makes it so.”

“Hamlet, Shakespeare” I added.

The Guide smiled. “Well done, you’re surprisingly well-read for someone who only reads litRPGs.

“And you’re surprisingly sentient for whatever it is you are,” I retorted

"Cough, cough, how rude," he said, raising his voice as if insulted. “Anyways, the fact remains. Darkness isn’t evil. If the Light represents stasis, stability, order, and control then the Dark is the opposite of that. The Darkness represents change, activity, and life.” He gestured to the festival around us. "Only in darkness can life truly flourish."

The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

We entered the city. There was a massive festival going on. Bands were playing in the town square, crowds were dancing, and lights sparkled everywhere. As we walked through the crowd, I noticed the wide mix of races. Cat girls, bunny boys, werewolves, elves, and more catgirls.

The Guide smirked. “Cat girls are always popular. Every MMO has them.”

I laughed. “Yeah, that’s true.”

I glanced around at the outfits. Some people were dressed in modern clothes, others in traditional Eastern styles, and a few in beachwear. One guy even ran by in a chicken suit.

“Doesn’t this break the immersion?” I asked. This place did not bear the aesthetics of a medieval town.

The Guide pointed to a woman in a kimono. “See that dress? It’s from the cash shop. The revenue from that one dress was doubled what we made from our monthly subscription. If players want to express themselves, let them. A little immersion-breaking is a small price to pay for creative freedom”

“I believe what you really mean is screw immersion, let’s get rich,” I said.

He stared at me with those eerie eyes again but remained silent.

A group of cat girls in skimpy outfits crossed our path. One brushed against me with a teasing smile. Another winked, tilting her head in that anime-cute way.

I blushed. The marketing team knew their target audience.

Fine, the Guide had a point. Every MMO needed its degenerate hangout spot. At least this one had good music.

“How do you differentiate between players and NPCs?” I asked, realizing there were no obvious markers.

"That's the neat part - you don't. If players want to roleplay as NPCs, they can take that secret to the grave. And our AI?" His grin widened. "You will never be able to tell the difference.

“Come on, there has to be a tell. Party invites only work on real players, right?”

“Where's the fun in that? Modern MMO players prefer playing solo anyway. Gone are the days of begging friends to raid." Those inhuman eyes fixed on me. "If you rather party with NPCs, we let you. And I'll say it again - you will never be able to tell the difference.”

“Why not just ask them?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t recommend that. It’s against terms of service, we had to ban a whole cohort of toxic players because of this.”

“How is that toxic?” I found this weird. It sounded like an innocent question.

“Harassment. Players come here to live out their fantasies, even the darker ones. But not everyone approves of a chaotic evil psychopath playthrough. The veil of anonymity protects them. Player or NPC? You'll never know.”

When he put it that way, it clicked. Every multiplayer game I'd touched had devolved into the same toxic mess. You play like an AI, noob, uninstall…

But who flames NPCs in a single-player game? Genius way to solve toxicity - make everyone look like an NPC.

"Precisely," he added, as though reading my thoughts. "Think of it as a single-player game with very convincing NPCs. Every choice matters. Every story branch is unique." His yellow eyes gleamed. "Just immerse yourself and see where you end up."

“Hard to be immersed when there are cat girls in bikinis.”

“… We need to pay the bills. Will you drop it already.”

“Alright, fine. What about respawns? NPCs get those as well, right?” I asked.

“Respawns?” His voice went up to a higher pitch in a quizzical tone. “You didn’t read the tutorial, did you?”

“I don’t read”

"You really should. In this game..." The Guide's eternal grin faded, his yellow eyes dimming. "Death is permanent. No respawns. No second chances." His voice dropped low. "When you die, everything - your character, your progress, your story - gets erased. Forever."

My blood froze as I remembered the smiling man. How close I'd come to losing everything.

My throat went dry. "That doesn't sound very fun."

"Fun?" His laugh was hollow. "Tell me, young one. When was the last time you felt truly alive in a game where death meant nothing?"

“Hardcore Ironman mode, Nuzlocke rules. These are all challenges in other games that are incredibly popular. Their commonality? When you die, you stay dead.”

For once, I didn't have a comeback. He wasn't wrong about modern games being too soft. They lacked stakes.

At this point, the crowd around us parted, and a blonde teenage girl emerged from the sea of dancers. She moved with casual confidence, her bright eyes landed on me with curiosity. Several other dancers called out to her "Come back!" She ignored them, making a direct line for us.

“I saw you arrived from beyond the gates, you’re from topside aren’t you” she asked

“Uh, yeah,” I replied awkwardly, not entirely sure what she was referring to.

"Come dance with me!" she insisted, grabbing my hand and pulling me toward the town square.

I wasn’t used to dealing with situations like this and so I looked back to the guide, eyes silently begging him for help.

“Enjoy yourself.” He said with a faint grin. “While you still can.”

The girl led me into a sea of bodies. The bass of the drums reverberated through the cavernous city. Every beat felt raw, echoing off the stone walls and guiding the crowd in perfect unison. Magic-fueled lights blinked overhead, casting vibrant colors across the crowd. The atmosphere reminded me of a nightclub.

“Come on!” The girl’s voice snapped me out of my thoughts. She started dancing, her movements quick and carefree, her body swaying to the rhythm. She twirled once, laughing, her energy infectious.

I tried to mimic her steps, but I felt clumsy and awkward. Dancing wasn’t my strong point. "Relax," she said, grabbing my hands and guiding me to the beat. "Feel the music with your heart, not your head."

The drumming intensified, each beat rattling through my chest like a heartbeat. The rhythm was relentless, intoxicating, pulling me into its sway. It wasn’t long before I started to lose myself in the movement, my body following the rhythm almost on instinct.

She let go of my hands and stepped back, watching with a mischievous smile as I found my footing. “Not bad,” she teased, her laughter carried away by the booming drums.

“I’m a fast learner,” I shot back, trying to suppress my grin.

"I can see that." She pulled a wine flask from her satchel. "Celebratory drink?"

“No thanks” I declined.

"Boring," she teased, taking a sip. "So, tell me about topside. What's it like up there?"

“Have you never been?”

She shook her head. “It's rare for people from the Undercity to go topside. Only the strongest venture up there. I’ve been down here my whole life”

Her whole life. It sounded like something an NPC would say. Or was she a role player with an elaborate backstory? Either way, it didn’t matter for now, I guess.

And so, I told her about my experiences there. About men turning to stone and monsters. About the harshness of the desert and the people’s lives.

“Sounds tough,” she said quietly, staring at the ground. There was something vulnerable in the way she said it, a kind of disappointment.

“We don’t have anything like that here” she continued. “The darkness keeps us safe from the light”. Her eyes met mine again. “I guess we’re lucky that way”.

The music swelled around us, but she seemed lost in thought. Then, after a moment of silence, she looked up, her expression softening. “One day, though... I’d like to see the sky.”

She smiled brightly, her whole face lighting up with the idea. “Thank you for the dance,” she said, stepping back to the crowd. “I’m Estella, by the way.”

“I’m Noctus.”

“I hope we meet again.”

My mind raced for the right response, but before I could say anything, she gave a playful wave, tapped her foot twice, and disappeared into the crowd, her laughter echoing behind her.