The game had been out for years, Cosmos.

It was a revolution in virtual reality technology. Allowing players to enter a galaxy's worth of worlds.

Powered by a quantum computer, Cosmos was fleshed out with dynamic populations of AI-run Non-Player Characters. NPC for short.

Koll Luna had been with the game since it first launched. The player excelled at lore hunting. The gathering of secrets across the many worlds of Cosmos.

Well into the sixth expansion, Koll has built a thriving business of running avatars through the complex questlines that provide great rewards for those with the skill to attain them.

Before logging out for a break, Koll is stopped by another player.

"Koll... Koll Luna?"

The man's avatar looks the pretty woman over.

Her attire is functional businesswear, a style favored by lifestyle specialists who don't get their hands dirty fighting monsters. Behind her, a hovering camerabot is capturing the moment of their meeting.

"Yeah," Koll says. "That's me."

The pretty journalist smiles.

"I'm glad I caught you. I've been wanting to meet you for a while."

Koll nods, "I don't do interviews."

The journalist is unperturbed by Koll's dismissiveness.

"Mr. Luna, you may not be aware of it. But, you have a certain reputation in the gaming community. You're a legend, some might say."

Koll shrugs.

"Thank you. Goodbye."

His words escape him as he turns away.

Hurriedly, the woman rushes around to face him again, her camera ever hovering in observation of him.

"Mr. Luna, before you go. Can you give us your thoughts on the coming software patch? Perhaps illuminate some key questlines and the future of Cosmos."

Koll sighs.

"If you want information like that, you should commission me. But, my queue is backed up as is."

The reporter's lips twitch.

"Just a small fact would be enough."

Koll looks at the woman. There are many players like her. Sleuths who have a social media influence dissecting the elements of Cosmos. Most do their own footwork.

And yet, here she is asking for a free lunch.

Koll frowns.

"A shadow is falling on the worlds of Cosmos. A swarm even. The great powers across the galaxy will be as wheat before the locust."

As Koll finishes his statement, he observes the confused expression on the reporter's face.

Before she can recover, he uses the drop-down display on his hud to log out.

His consciousness slowly returns to the world and his eyes open to look through the visor of his full-dive VR headset.

He's spent a decade in the game. Only leaving to sleep and feed himself.

Koll's limbs are skinny, yet not quite anorexic. He doesn't get much exercise in the real world.

Koll sits up and removes the headset.

"I wonder if I should move on."

His words display a fatigue that can only come after a long period of hard work.

He checks his phone and sees a notification for a new commission. The details are vague. But then, few players want to give away their secrets up front.

Thinking little of it, Koll confirms his participation and goes to the kitchen to throw something in the microwave before eating it.

The meal is both tasty and bland at the same time, just a cheap frozen meal.

With little left to do in the real world, and his appetite satiated, Koll returns to his bed where the headset waits for him.

Koll puts it on and lies down.

As the system whirs into action, Koll feels the lethargy that comes with the full dive process.

Just before losing consciousness, he feels the system grow louder and louder. Far louder than it should be.

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

Alarm flares in his dying consciousness before a current of electricity courses through his body, causing it to spasm wildly.

If he could move his limbs, he'd throw away the defective headset. But, his mind is lost in a moment.

Koll awakens in a dark environment. His body rests in a sturdy black chair. His arms and legs are restrained.

His mind tries to understand what's happened. He fears that something went wrong with his log-in. But, his mind collects itself. He's not dead.

But, what is this place? The character he was going to play was in the middle of a faction city.

None of the characters he plays should be trapped in a chair like the one he currently sits in.

With a thought, he conjures the system's heads-up display.

Character data is listed overlayed upon his field of vision.

[Character Name: Koll Luna]

[Class: Undefined]

[Experience: 0]

[Evolutionary Rating: G]

The last item, the evolutionary rating, causes his brow to twitch.

Even the weakest players are at least rated as E.

He's never heard of such a weak player.

Shrugging internally, Koll uses the menu to access the log-out option.

The words, log out, are gray and unselectable.

After a moment of looking at the grayed-out words, a certain sense of panic stirs in the man's heart.

The fact that he's restrained is suddenly terrifying.

His mind races as he looks around as much as he's able.

Just beyond his vision, in the darkness, a pair of eyes shine.

Koll shudders involuntarily.

The eyes draw closer and the white of a woman's thighs catch in the dark. A beautiful woman with ample breasts and raven black hair walks up to the imprisoned man.

Her dress is pristine red, with a slit running down both legs.

Her eyes are a deep amber. A golden, predatory, color.

Her face is beautiful. But, a deep scowl masks its beauty.

The woman stands before Koll, looking at him with contempt.

"Is this what could be called success?" she asks the air.

Koll feels his body shiver under the fearsome woman. It's not a feeling that touches his soul. Rather, it is a physical response to someone with a much higher evolutionary rating.

It's difficult to say. But, Koll assumes her rating to be D or even C.

For a G rank like him, it's like being a toddler in front of a hungry lion. And, bound as he is, his chances of survival would be even lower.

Despite his quivering body, Koll's eyes meet those of the intimidating woman.

Her eyes narrow as she meets the rebellious look.

Her hand is a blur as it slaps across his face.

Blood flows from his nose as the woman grips his jaw with her deceptively slender fingers.

"Should we go again?" she asks with venom.

Koll doesn't know what she's referring to. But he knows whatever it is, it isn't something he wants to experience.

His eyes lower and he tries to shake his head.

A satisfied smirk curves her lips upwards.

The woman wipes his blood off her hand with his shirt.

"Take him back to his room."

As she speaks the words, a pair of ugly men move out of the darkness and release Koll from his restraints.

As he stands, he falls to his knees.

"Get up, acolyte," one of the men says with a kick to Koll's side.

With effort, Koll stands and begins to walk.

The beautiful, disdainful, woman watches with mild interest as he is led out of the scary room.

Beyond the room are stone hallways with many rooms.

The further away Koll is led, the more bizarre the sounds coming from barred-up rooms become.

Finally, Koll is pushed into a bleak stone room.

Not even a window graces the dark tomb.

As he's locked in, Koll panics once again.

No matter how he tries to exit the game, he can't.

Thinking over his situation, he returns to scanning the menu options.

Fortunately for him, the forum function is available through the system.

Koll opens a forum thread for bugs and other maintenance issues players may need help with.

Immediately, Koll types out a ticket for the admins to help.

"Fuck!"

He almost screams the curse as the menu reads an error when he tries to post about his issue.

Repeated efforts on other threads throughout the forums turn up only errors.

Before he can drown in despair, Koll notices something odd.

Most of the threads throughout the forums are celebratory.

[Unkown King: Greetings fellows of the cosmos. Welcome to the launch.]

[Butterfly: Whoo! OG gangster right here. Our guild [Twilight Ride] is recruiting. Post if you want to join.]

[Anonymous: Go recruit on your planet's forums. There's no point in doing it on the general forum.]

[Justice Sword: +1]

The number of comments floods the screen. And, one thing is obvious. This isn't the sixth expansion of Cosmos. It's the launch of the base game.

Koll breathes out heavily.

"This is not happening. This can't be happening."

He repeats the words as a mantra, wishing they were true.

Inevitably, the silence of his prison turns numbing. Vague cries and moans break out at random intervals, causing Koll to jerk at times.

Fortunately, he has the forum to preoccupy himself in the tedium of his room.

It's all rather happy for the other players. Even if they find themselves in a bad spot, they just log out and go about their lives.

But, there's no logging out for Koll. And, even if there was, would he be in his body from a decade ago?

Time travel's not real, he tries to convince himself.

This has to be a prank. But, who would or even could pull off a prank like this?

Maybe Cosmos itself is messing with him.

"System," Koll says evenly, "What is going on?"

As a sentient algorithm, the system of Cosmos has a certain degree of communication it is capable of expressing.

Koll waits for a moment before the algorithm responds.

"NPC Koll Luna has been captured by the Red Sect. Given the designation of Acolyte of the Red Sect, Koll Luna is the subject of inhuman experiments to summon otherworldly entities into the vessel of the acolyte."

Koll's brow tightens.

"The Red Sect?" he questions.

The system continues, "The Red Sect of planet Ruun is a chaotic evil cult bent on the corruption of the living. The Red Sect is opposed by the world governments of planet Ruun."

Koll sighs, "Those fanatics..."

Koll searches his memories for the planet Ruun.

During the early days of Cosmos, Ruun was a beginner world where players would start, level up, and eventually venture from and into the wider galaxy beyond.

The player base during the early days of Cosmos was in the millions. But, would grow to hundreds of millions as the expansions rolled on.

Right now, the starting worlds should be about a dozen.

Each world tends to have a certain style of classes and environments.

Some planets favor machine technology. Some favor physical combat classes. Others, holy and evil magics.

Ruun happened to be a world of magic, with limited technological advances.

Koll tries to process everything that's going on. But, realizes that he can't.

"System," he says. "Force log out for Koll Luna."

"Command not recognized."

Koll grits his teeth.

"Why?"

The system waits a moment before stating, "Koll Luna is not a player character."

"Fuck!" he screams his frustration.

Koll begins beating his head against a wall.

As the hours press on; Koll scans the forums, paces his cell, and screams at the system.

The stoic Koll Luna that he had been before is unraveling. Nothing seems to work.

He doesn't even have a class. Instead, he's an NPC. A goddammed nonplayer character. Just a mob, a throwaway character that the player passes as they go on to face their adventure.

Without even a pillow in the cold cell, Koll eventually finds sleep.