Darkness.

Cold and damp, a suffocating darkness.

He woke to damp air clinging to his skin, a force pressing against his chest like unseen hands. The forest around him was endless.

The scent of decay crawled into his lungs, but there were no sounds—no rustling leaves, no chirping insects.

Just silence.

He took a step. The crunch of dead leaves beneath his boots detonated like gunfire in the quiet. Another step—twigs snapped, loud, as if the world was amplifying his presence.

He tried to speak, but his voice didn’t carry. The air devoured his words before they could escape his lips.

Commands.

Menu.

Log out.

Nothing worked. The Nexus ignored him.

Something moved.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

A breath of sound. A whisper of motion.

A twig snapped.

Close.

He turned sharply, scanning the dark. His vision blurred. There—something just beyond the trees, a flickering apparition, darker than the night itself.

His legs moved before his mind could process the fear. He ran.

Branches clawed at him. The silence roared in his ears. He could feel it closing in, a cold presence sinking into his spine, slithering under his skin.

His foot caught on a root. He hit the ground hard.

Ice-cold fingers followed, curling around his throat.

He clawed at the unseen force, gasping, choking, kicking against the weight pressing down on him.

The world flickered.

The forest reset.

Again.

Again.

Again.

He sat in the interview chair, trembling, fingers gripping the edge of the table.

“It wasn’t a game,” he said, his chest heaving. “It was a nightmare.”

His gaze darted to the camera, hollow, haunted.

“It wouldn’t let me die. It wou—”

He stopped. His body shuddered.

Without another word, he stood up and walked away.

-----

Whispers of the darker side of the game began circulating. Players who swore by the game found themselves sharing their haunting experiences within it.

Forums and blogs were formed exclusively to discuss player experiences. “Supernatural encounters” they called it. They reported shadowy figures lurking around in the background.

When they tried to approach them, they would vanish. They believed the figures were watching them. It did not matter how many different worlds they would log into—the figures would follow them.

It didn’t get better.

One user described one of these apparitions.

“It said my name” he wrote. “My real name, not my tag. I logged out immediately.“

A few players who’d been stuck in the Nexus for too long—longer than anyone should be—finally got pulled out. Something was off.

[Nexus Syndrome–What They Don’t Want You to Know]

One guy sat in the middle of a hospital hallway, tapping at the air like he was still opening menus. Nurses tried talking to him, but his replies were gibberish. Words that didn’t fit together.

Another was found wandering his apartment in full gear, eyes glazed over. He walked in circles, bumping into walls, mumbling about enemies that weren’t there. When his brother tried to snap him out of it, it was like he wasn’t sure what was real anymore.

And then there was the worst case. Someone who didn’t speak at all. They just stared. Like they were still inside, watching something the rest of us couldn’t see.

Doctors are calling it neurological degradation. The devs? They’re calling it a side effect.

The ones who’ve been paying attention? We know better.

—[Posted by: Revenant_8381 | 2 days ago]