Bug report, i can't get out!
Darkness.
Then a fall.
And impact.
Kade hit the ground hard, the wind knocked from his lungs as dust billowed up around him. Stone met spine. Debris dug into his back. A cough escaped his throat—dry, sharp.
The first thing he noticed: cold air.
Not the artificial chill of his air conditioner. This was sharper. Older. The kind of cold that carried the scent of ash, stone, and something faintly metallic—like old blood on rusted steel.
He groaned, rolling onto his side. His arm brushed against tile. Cracked. Uneven. Real.
He cracked one eye open.
Above him, sunlight spilled through the remains of a collapsed ceiling. Huge beams jutted out at odd angles like broken ribs, barely holding up pieces of ancient masonry. Dust floated through golden rays, drifting slow and lazy, untouched by wind.
"Ugh… what the hell," he muttered.
Still on the floor, he glanced down at himself.
Plaid pajama pants. An oversized Mythbreaker tournament tee. One sock gone.
"Right. Passed out gaming again. Classic," he grumbled.
Except the floor was too solid. The air too sharp. His skin too awake.
He slowly sat up, brushing off a layer of grime that definitely shouldn't be on his clothes if he were just lying in bed. His legs were sore. His shoulder had a weird ache, like he'd landed hard.
And he was wearing no VR rig. No headset. No wires. Just… him.
Barefoot in ancient ruins.
He turned his head slowly, taking in the sight.
Massive stone arches reached into the sky, fractured and barely holding. Weeds had grown through cracks in the floor. Some kind of strange violet moss pulsed faintly on the walls, giving off a gentle, unnatural glow. Bits of broken weapons—blades, staffs, shattered runes—were scattered across the floor, half-buried in time.
Then he saw it.
Near the center of the room stood a statue.
Or what remained of one.
It was tall. Easily fifteen feet. A marble angel, wings half-shattered, arms outstretched. One hand was open, as if once holding something. The other was cracked clean off. Its head was missing entirely, the jagged stump covered in vines.
Despite its ruin, it gave off a quiet kind of gravity—like it had once been worshipped. Or feared.
Kade stared at it.
It stared back with nothing.
"...What kind of patch notes did I miss?"
No answer came.
Just the rustle of wind through broken stone and the faint echo of something distant—like footsteps. Or maybe just the ruins settling.
Kade slowly stood up, brushing dirt from his pajamas, eyes never leaving the headless statue.
This didn't feel like any cutscene.
It didn't feel like a dream either.
He took a step forward.
Somewhere behind him, something clicked.
A soft hum began to rise beneath the silence, as if the world had noticed him at last.
Kade took another step.
A shimmer—just a flicker—passed across his vision.
He blinked. It was faint. Fainter than a HUD. Barely there. But he'd spent too many hours gaming to miss something like that.
And then, like an afterimage from staring at a screen too long, it appeared:
---
[SYSTEM SYNC INITIALIZED]
Name: Kade Marlowe
Status: Alive (Confused, Unarmed)
Inventory:
— 1x Cellphone (No Signal)
— 1x Wireless Mouse (???)
Skills: None
Abilities: None
Options:
— Save Game
— Saved Files: [Empty]
---
"…Wait, what?"
Kade squinted at the text. It hovered in the corner of his vision—not fixed to anything. Just floating there, translucent, like it didn't belong in reality.
"No levels… no stats…" He looked down at his hands. Still there. Still him. Pajamas, wristband from that energy drink giveaway, a Cheeto stain near the sleeve. Very immersive detail, ten out of ten.
He let out a long breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Alright. Game session's done. That last boss fight was brutal."
He reached up.
Tried to grab the VR helmet.
His fingers touched… air.
"…Huh?"
He blinked. Felt around again.
Still nothing.
He turned in place, slowly. The ruins. The sky. The faint wind brushing across his skin. The angel statue with its missing head, staring down like it knew something he didn't.
"Okay. That's… new."
He stared into the distance for a long second.
And then—almost instinctively—he whispered, "Open menu."
The system flickered back to life.
[Save Game?]
His stomach sank a little.
It felt too real. Too quiet. Too… final.
He didn't press anything. Just stared.
And that's when it hit him—like a cold drop down the spine.
This wasn't a loading screen.
There was no helmet.
No HUD overlay.
No game.
Just him.
And he might've just hit "Continue" on something he couldn't log out from.
---
[Save Game?]
He didn't move.
Didn't blink.
Didn't breathe for a second too long.
Then he scoffed. "Okay, weird bug. Real immersive glitch. Some AR bleed-through maybe."
He waved his hand through the menu again—expecting it to flicker or vanish like a projection. It didn't.
Kade sighed, muttering, "Great. Must've overheated the rig or something. Maybe the neural link jammed. I knew I should've checked the firmware update."
He paced a few steps across the cracked stone floor of the ruin, pausing beside the broken angel statue. "Alright. Worst case, system froze. I'll just wait it out. Battery on the headset can't last more than, what—four, five hours tops?"
He checked his phone out of habit.
No Signal.
Battery: 78%
"Nice touch," he muttered. "Really going all-in on the immersion."
Still, a part of him—some cautious corner of his mind—whispered: This isn't just a game glitch.
He ignored it. Sat down on a chunk of rubble, leaned back against the angel's foot, and stared up at the strangely colored sky.
"Guess I can enjoy the ride 'til the battery dies," he said with a shrug. "One last dive into Mythbreaker. Might as well explore a bit. No combat, no UI clutter. Just vibes."
He rested his mouse beside him, thumb brushing its side button out of habit.
Somewhere, the wind stirred the grass beyond the ruins.
Somewhere, something distant echoed—not threatening, but not familiar either.
And as he sat there, pretending this was still part of the game…
The system quietly responded:
[Game Saved.]
Return point set.