OUTSIDE OF REALITY
By YamaBlood
Usagi walks through the doors of the game company where she has worked for about a year now. It’s her dream job, and she is very happy to be here, working on 'Magical Fantasy 2'. A game she loved in her childhood, she still can’t believe she is part of building the second installment of a game she cherishes.
Usagi works in the art department, drawing backgrounds and main characters for the game. She takes her job very seriously, putting great effort into every character, whether a side character or the main protagonist, ensuring they all look great. Maybe it’s because she enjoys zooming in and examining characters and background elements with keen curiosity, but she takes her work seriously.
As Usagi walks through the hallway, she waves at some colleagues with a big smile before continuing on her way. She is a bubbly, energetic, and optimistic young woman of 18, the youngest in the company. On her first day at the company, people found her excited chatter overwhelming, but now, she is like a light that brightens the dark, lifting everyone's spirits.
“Usagi!” a deep voice calls to her from across the hallway. It’s Takashi Haruno, the lead artist. He walks over with a warm smile.
“Mr. Haruno!” Usagi greets him. “I was just on my way to my desk.”
“I told you to just call me Takashi,” he says with a smile, handing her a paper. “I have a new task for you. I saw you finished the side characters for the village, so now we can start on the main protagonists. The appearance is already planned, as you can see. Just turn them into 3D models and make the details a bit more striking.”
Usagi stares at the paper, which shows a very detailed sketch of a character—a woman, to be precise. Something about her looks familiar. “Wow...” Usagi mumbles as she gazes at the figure.
A tall woman with very long black hair and striking purple eyes. She is clothed in a robe, perhaps a mage’s robe, in gray and black—dull colors that somehow look vibrant on her. This is the first main character Usagi will work on.
“...al...right?”
“...Usagi?”
“Usagi!”
Usagi jumps. “WHAA!” she looks around. “Jesus, girl, did you just space out?” Takashi says with an amused look. “That’s rare for you.”
“Y-you mean I will work on...” she starts but stops, her excitement growing. Her first main character! Maybe she is some kind of legendary mage? She looks so pretty...
Takashi tilts his head as he watches Usagi clutch the papers with her big green eyes wide. “Yes, it’s your first important character. She’s somewhat of a villain, though.”
What?
“What?” Usagi looks up. “A villain?”
Takashi nods. “Her name is Mikasa Axmond, of the house Axmond.” That’s why she looks so familiar! In the first game, Lord and Lady Axmond were central figures in the great war. Lady Axmond was pregnant with twins during the war. But as the war ended, Lord Axmond died, leaving his pregnant wife alone—that's how the first game ended. Usagi grimaces, recalling how she didn’t leave her bed for a week after that, forcing her mother to drag her out.
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Sure, the house of Axmond is known for their power and dark magic, but they fought on the good side of the war, so Usagi doesn’t understand why the daughter would be a villain.
“But...” Usagi mumbles, staring down at the papers. Takashi looks confused. “Are you... alright?”
She looks up with teary eyes, making Takashi stare at her with wide eyes before patting her shoulder. “There, girl! What is it?”
“Why is she... a villain?” Her teary bright eyes stare at him like a little girl whose ice cream fell on the sidewalk. He grimaces.
“I can’t tell you that now, girl,” he says, patting her head. “I’m not the one who plans the story.”
“I’d like to stay, but I have a meeting with the director,” he adds.
“When do I need to finish her?” Usagi asks, looking over her shoulder at the man walking away. It looks like he’s running from her. Huh.
“Two days! Like always,” he calls back before vanishing around a corner.
Usagi stands there in the hallway, her eyes slowly sinking to the sketch.
Mikasa Axmond. A shadow bender.
Her gaze hardens.
“I’ll do my best to make you look great!”
Villain or not, this character will likely play a big role.
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Middle of the night.
Usagi was always a night owl. It isn’t unusual for her to stay late at the company, working on characters. But today, her task seems a bit harder.
“Ugh!” She groans, her light blue wavy hair a mess. Normally loose and long, it looks like a bird's nest tonight. Her cheeks puff as she squeezes them with both hands. She stares at the screen. The character looks pretty good; some would call it done, but it's far from finished. Details, shading—it all still needs work. This isn’t just any character! It’s an important protagonist!
A very important and kind—
“What am I thinking? She is a villain! A villain!” Usagi falls forward, her forehead hitting the desk with a thump that echoes through the dark room.
Creating background characters is easy and fun. You can design them however you want, as long as they look like normal background characters without drawing attention. It’s exciting to think you’re creating someone people will enjoy seeing. The idea of creating a hero protagonist is awesome—imagine people playing the game and falling in love with the hero you designed.
But...
Usagi slowly lifts her head. Her eyes catch the character she’s still working on. She looks so pretty. Those eyes, that hair, and that stony, confident expression!
How could such a beautiful woman be a planned villain!?
“Ugh!” Usagi groans again. Maybe that’s what you get for being such a big fan of Magical Fantasy. Working on the second part just makes you suffer more.
Usagi straightens up, takes her pen in hand, and starts working on Mikasa’s face. The eyes still need some life in them; the pretty purple color needs to be lighter.
Mikasa Axmond. Daughter of the house Axmond. Seventeen years old.
“I would really love to know your story...”
Those were the last words Usagi said as her eyes grew heavier, until she fell asleep and everything went dark.
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The next thing she knows as she wakes up is the sensation of falling.
She feels herself colliding with something as she hits the ground. She opens her eyes slowly, groaning from the pain in her ribs. That wasn’t exactly how she wanted her nap to go. Perhaps sleeping on her desk isn’t that healthy.
But her thoughts stop as her eyes catch sight of green. Grass. Wait. Grass!?
She feels the grass under her palms as she tries to sit up. What is happening?!
“Stars above…ugh.”
She jumps as she hears a stranger’s voice behind her.
Usagi gets up on weak legs, steadying herself. She looks around. It looks too good to be true. Where is she? Her eyes catch mountains and a landscape of beautiful colors. She is on a green field without trees or anything else. In front of her is what looks like a portal? What...
The groaning voice catches her attention again, and she turns fully around. Her eyes instantly fall on a woman lying in the grass, trying to stand up.
Purple eyes meet green ones before the mage’s raspy voice cuts through the air.
“Who in the hell are you?”