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 game had consumed three years of her life, her supposed sanctuary. But tonight, it felt like a cruel god, mocking her as every attempt crumbled to dust.

For the fifth time, her quest failed. The mocking red letters—DEFEAT—flashed across her vision.

Aria groaned and slammed her forehead against the desk.

“I swear… just one more run!” A lie she told herself so often it had become 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. 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 sunlight—so bright it stabbed behind her eyes like knives. But this wasn’t the pale morning glow of the city. This was sharper, richer, more vivid… like reality turned up to eleven.

Her ears picked up voices, not the muffled chatter of dorm mates, but hundreds—maybe thousands—of overlapping conversations.

And then she saw it.

Merchants hawked their wares from huts and tables. Adventurers shouted their guild slogans. A bard’s lute strummed somewhere above the din. The air carried the aroma of fresh bread, roasted meat, and woodsmoke.

Her breath caught.

“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, 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 perfected.

Her hand flew to her cheek. The skin felt smooth, warm, alive. She 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 hand flew to her head and tangled in hair that felt softer, thicker than it ever had in real life. Her pulse hammered in her throat.

“This isn’t my school campus either… this is different!”

She wasn’t religious, but desperation had her muttering a prayer.

“Oh, Jesus, Mary, Buddha, or whatever! Please! Please let me wake up if this is a dream!”

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.

“Heck… I’m in the game? But this isn’t polygons on a screen. These people are… living, breathing beings.”

Her knees gave out, and she slumped onto the polished tiles.

Then a chime rang inside her skull.

[Unique Player Detected.]

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.

“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 her moment of comfort shattered when a ripple of laughter broke through the crowd.

She turned.

A guild officer stood nearby, towering in black-and-gold armor that gleamed with enchantments. His nameplate floated above his head.

+++

Darron, Officer of the Iron Fangs [Lv. 96]

+++

His eyes narrowed on her stats.

“A Level 15? Pathetic. She must be a bug!”

Aria froze, heat rushing to her cheeks.

A handful of others slowed to stare. Snickers followed.

“Look at that level cap!”

“She’s probably glitched!”

“Or maybe a newbie stuck in the wrong timeline. What a joke!”

The humiliation dug into her chest like claws. She wanted to scream that she didn’t belong here, that she had only just logged in from her dorm. But the words stuck in her throat.

Her legs moved before she could think. She bolted, shoving past adventurers as their laughter chased her.

The crowded square blurred until she staggered through the city gates, lungs burning.

“System?” she gasped.

“Yes, Player A? How may I help you?” the melodic robotic voice replied.

“Why are there players so high-leveled? I thought everyone started at level one!”

“Player A, this is not a new patch. This is twenty years ahead of what you played before.”

“What the f—! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?!”

“You didn’t ask.”

“Ahhh!” Aria stomped her foot, cursing whoever had created the system.

“Player A… there is a—”

“Stop calling me Player A! I’m Aria, okay? Aria!”

“Yes, Aria. I was about to tell you there is danger, but you cut me off.”

The ground trembled beneath her boots.

A roar split the air, so deep it rattled her bones.

Aria’s 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.

Her pulse slammed in her ears. She stumbled back, but her knees locked, refusing to move.

The beast’s gaze fixed on her.

The world around her seemed to shrink until nothing existed but those glowing eyes and the certainty that she was prey.

Aria’s breath hitched, her throat tight. This wasn’t a cutscene. This wasn’t just pixels.
This was real.

And it was coming for her.