Welcome to the Future

Aria’s eyes stung from the glow of her monitor.

Unlike most VRMMOs, Eternal Dominion still supported old-school PC play. She couldn’t afford a high-end VR headset, so her window into the game was the flat glare of the screen. Keyboard, mouse, and stamina drinks—that was her gear.

Her dorm room bore the marks of her obsession: faint with the smell of instant ramen and stale soda, the air heavy with the musk of too many hours spent indoors. Empty cans and crumpled chip bags littered the floor like relics of battles fought and lost.

She pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose, the smudged lenses useless against the dark circles beneath her eyes. Her black hair clung in messy strands around her pale face, and her reflection in the glossy corner of the monitor looked older than twenty—tired, plain, unremarkable.

On the screen, however, her avatar told another story. Eternal Dominion’s scan-and-style system didn’t invent new faces; it built on the player’s own. Which meant Aria got a version of herself she barely recognized: flawless skin, sleeker hair, straighter posture, and eyes that gleamed with a confidence she didn’t have in real life. The girl on the screen looked like her, yes, but the kind of her that belonged on a stage, not slouched in a messy dorm.

“Come on… one more crit. Just one more!” she muttered, her voice hoarse.

Her fingers trembled on the keyboard, dancing desperately across the keys. On the screen, her avatar staggered against a dungeon boss—a lumbering stone golem with a health bar that just wouldn’t die.

This is the game that had consumed almost five years of her life, her supposed sanctuary. But tonight, it felt like a cruel God, mocking her as every attempt to win crumbled to dust.

For the fifth time, her quest failed. The mocking red letters “DEFEAT” flashed across her screen.

Aria groaned and slammed her forehead against the desk. And her second mouse, was already on its way to be broken again as what happen to her first one.

“Urggg! I swear… I swear, just one more run!” This is lie she told herself so often that it had become a ritual.

Her headset pulsed faintly, the hum of its processors syncing with the whir of the desk fan.

Outside her dorm window, the city was beginning to stir. Car horns honked in the distance, and a faint glow bled into the horizon.

Morning was coming, indifferent to her exhaustion.

Her eyelids drooped. The monitor blurred. The fatigue pressing on her shoulders was heavier than any in-game status debuff.

She barely noticed herself whispering.

“I promise… last one…”

Her chin dipped. Her breathing slowed. Sleep claimed her before the loading screen finished fading.

+++++++

Then the world shifted.

Aria’s senses snapped awake, jolting her out of the half-dream she thought she’d slipped into.

She squinted against the sunlight, it was so bright that it stabbed behind her eyes like knives.

But as she notices, this wasn’t the pale morning glow of the city. This was sharper, richer, more vivid… like reality turned up to eleven.

Voices filled her ears — not the muffled chatter of dorm mates, but hundreds, maybe thousands, all colliding into a living chorus.

Her eyes widened.

Merchants waved from cluttered stalls, shouting to be heard.

Adventurers bragged their guild slogans with wild grins.

Somewhere above it all, a bard’s lute strummed a bright tune.

The scents hit next — warm bread, roasted meat, woodsmoke curling in the air.

Aria’s chest tightened, her breath catching. This wasn’t just a game. It was a world.

“Where… am I? What is this place?”

Her feet stood on smooth stone tiles, faintly etched with runes. She glanced down and froze. Her worn hoodie and shorts were gone, it was replaced with leather straps, boots, and steel-guarded gauntlets.

Then she caught a glimpse of herself reflected in a polished shop window.

Her pulse spiked.

The face staring back wasn’t the messy, tired girl from her dorm.

This was the version she had only ever seen on her monitor: straighter posture, flawless skin, hair like midnight silk, eyes gleaming with sharpness and fire.

It was her, but the perfected one!

Her hand flew to her cheek. The skin felt smooth, warm, alive.

She even tugged at her hair, soft and thick between her fingers.

“This… this is me?” she whispered, trembling.

It was the avatar. No, she was the avatar!

“What the heck?!”

“Am I drugged?!” Her voice cracked as she stumbled back.

“No! I’m an addict, but a game addict!”

Her knees went weak, and she slumped onto the runed tiles, overwhelmed.

Her eyes darted upward.

Banners hung from towering walls.

Guild crests she didn’t recognize fluttered proudly in the wind.

Knights in full plate clattered past, their polished shields gleaming in the sun.

Robed mages walked in clusters, spellbooks floating lazily at their sides.

Every single one of them looked impossibly real.

“What the heck… I’m inside the game?! This isn’t polygons on a screen — these people look exactly like living, breathing beings!”

She touched her skin again and felt its warmth, the tiny aches and tingles, the full flood of sensation. Everything was real.

She wasn’t religious, but desperation made her whisper a prayer. “Oh God, oh Jesus, Mary, Buddha, or whatever — please, let me wake up if this is a dream!”

A chime rang inside her skull, as if her prayer had been answered.

+++
[Unique Player Detected.]
+++

Then another prompt popped into her vision. A melodic yet robotic voice spoke directly into her mind.

+++

Welcome to the World of Eternal Dominion!

You are one of the systems selected to become the Bug Player in this world. You will have to—hey!

Listen carefully and stop wiggling your feet on the floor!

+++

“…What?!” Aria’s stomach dropped. As she tried to steady herself, the almost nagging, mother-like voice of the system in her ear jolted her.

+++

“Never mind then, just look at your profile on your game console.”

+++

Instinctively, she willed the system menu open. A translucent grid appeared before her eyes.

+++
Name: Aria Tanaka (Bound)
Level: 15
Class: Novice Duelist
HP: 420 / 420
MP: 150 / 150
+++

Her throat closed up. She wasn’t dreaming. She was inside the game—a bug, just like the system had said.

“Whew… at least I’m level fifteen.” Relief flickered in her chest.

“Better than starting at level one…”

But before she could close the panel, a faint distortion rippled across the screen.

For half a second, her MP ticked upward

+++

MP 151… 152…

Stabilize: MP: 150

+++

Then a flicker of text bled into the corner of the menu.

+++
[Notice: Unclassified Parameter Detected]
+++

Her pulse spiked.

“What the F…!? That’s not in the game!”

As a veteran player, she knew Duelists had no mana scaling… ever. Their entire kit ran on stamina and precision. For her to see even a single point of overflow was impossible.

She blinked hard, and the anomaly vanished. The menu returned to normal, like nothing had happened.

“…A glitch? Hmmn… Maybe” she whispered, though unease clawed at her gut.

But before she could dwell on it, a roar split the air, so deep it rattled her bones.

Her head snapped up just as a massive shape emerged from the tree line.

Its fur bristled like steel quills, red eyes burning with malice. Jagged fangs dripped saliva that hissed and ate into the stone where it fell.

The stench of blood and ozone rolled off its breath, and every instinct in her body screamed predator.

Aria’s pulse slammed in her ears. She stumbled back, knees locking in terror.

This wasn’t a cutscene. This wasn’t just pixels.

This was real.

And it was coming for her.