Chapter Text
Prologue
Virtual Reality Immersive Gaming took the world by storm when Tales of Aesteria debuted as the most complex MMORPG to date. Offering a massive and magical persistent world with changing seasons, unique and extravagant geographical scenery, and enough play modes to fit every type of gamer, the community multiplied exponentially in the first two weeks. Like its predecessors, you could choose your appearance and define your character’s role within Aesteria. Except this time, the gamer could see it and experience it not through a screen but in first person, thanks to the neuro-links developed specifically for the game, submerging the player into a slumber-like state to let their mind wander freely in the meta world.
People flocked to the game for the chance to bring their dream persona to virtual life, be it a farmer and homestead enthusiast, a master builder in charge of developing cities and temples, a racer, adventurer, crafter, fighter, or anything in between. Possibilities were endless if you had a bit of spare time and access to the meta neuro-links, which were quickly becoming a staple in homes, gaming and relaxation lounges, and even hospitalization facilities that realized the benefits of keeping their immobile patients entertained.
Lu SiCheng had always loved gaming. It was the perfect escape from his grueling routine of studying and fulfilling his family’s expectations when he was younger. Then, when ToA launched, his affinity led him to invest in it not just financially, but also with his time, participating in the original batch of testers, leveling up, becoming a mentor, participating in tournaments, winning and gaining sponsorships that translated into real-world currency, which stayed his father’s displeasure when he realized his son’s interest in games was not such a waste of time as he’d originally thought.
By the time ToA launched its competitive phase, SiCheng’s carefully crafted and trained battle guild, ZGDX, sat comfortably in the top 3 of the Asian servers, constantly competing for the ever-changing no. 1 spot with TAT and Youkai, the top Korean and Japanese guilds, respectively. His earnings skyrocketed, and ZGDX became an official full-time esports team.
11:11 am- May 1st, 2025
SiCheng opened his eyes with a start. Instead of the crisp industrial ceiling of the team’s training room he’d been expecting, a vibrant blue sky greeted him. He sat up, absentmindedly noticing he was in a grassy patch surrounded by tall trees with a distinct triple-leaf pattern. He knew where he was at once. His team often used the clearing to train new skills and tactics before going out to the mid-range areas around Hanyan City, the centermost population hub of the world of Aesteria.
A chorus of groans and startled voices behind him made him turn, only to find most of his core team members in varying levels of alertness sprawled around the space. Ming was the first to fully rise. He was wearing the wyvern leather cloak he’d finally finished crafting two days ago. The piece of equipment had been labeled as Legendary by the system, granting his Druid friend the level of Master Smith, the highest for his subclass. While his apparel was the same as usual, his appearance was slightly different. A quick scan of the rest of his players revealed the phenomenon was not limited to their spellcaster. They all still sported a few of their chosen race’s distinct markings, like K’s elvish ears and Mao’s forearm serpentine scales, but now they looked more like their real-life selves in height and overall facial features. Furthermore, the stats floating above their heads now revealed their IRL first names instead of the alias some used when gaming.
“What happened? Why didn’t we disconnect?” asked Ming, looking around confusedly.
SiCheng’s eyes narrowed. “Something’s not right,” he said evenly, focusing on a spot to the side. Ming recognized he was probably accessing his virtual inventory and menu. “Several options and settings have become unavailable. Including the log off command.”
They all accessed their menus, and gasps rang around the clearing. “What the fuck? Not even the Tech Support option is available!” said Mao disbelievingly.
“General world settings are off too,” confirmed Ming, noting the background music and subtitle options had faded.
“Item inventory seems to be working normally,” chimed in K, pulling up his ebony bow and arrows with ease, watching it materialize in his hand and back as usual.
“Food and credits are there too,” said Pang, checking on his inventory of food items.
“The rest of our guys are also online,” commented Mao, scrolling through their guild’s roster. “But I don’t see the rest of our friends outside of ZGDX.”
“Can we still communicate with the guys?” asked K rhetorically, pulling up his own list and clicking on Rui’s username to initiate a voice call. His eyes widened when it connected.
“K, oh my god! Where are you?! What is going on?!” came their friend and self-appointed manager’s panicked voice.
K glanced at SiCheng, who shook his head to signal he couldn’t hear anything. “Hold on, I’m gonna make a general guild call so we can all listen at the same time,” said the archer, only waiting for Rui’s acceptance to hang up and place the general call.
They all picked up in record time, questions overlapping from Rui and Yue, while their last member, KunHyeok, also elsewhere at the moment, remained silent. “That’s enough,” came SiCheng’s quiet but definitive command, making the two blabbering ones quiet down immediately.
“Our map visibility and team tags are limited to a 10 Km radius, as if we have to unlock the land markers again like when we first started exploring the territory,” began Ming, taking on his usual role of analyst. “Where are you, Rui?” worried for their only non-combatant guild member.
“In Hanyan. I can see the whole city on my map, and Yue’s position on the other side too,” said Rui thoughtfully. “I woke up in the town square near the teleport station, but I’m at Jaebum’s Inn right now.”
SiCheng hummed in acknowledgement to the scribe and then called on his younger brother.
“I’m near the north gate of Hanyan,” said Yue, nervousness coloring his voice. “I was going to buy those potions we talked about for tomorrow’s dungeon raid before logging off, but then everything went black and I woke up in the middle of the street along with everyone else!”
“After we finish with this call, head to the Inn and meet up with Rui. Stay there until we come to find you,” he ordered, only waiting for both of their affirmative responses before calling on his best friend.
“Hyeok?”
“Same as you, my map is limited, but I recognize this place as the southern inner gate of Spirit Mountain,” came the deep and quiet response. “I was supposed to be fast-traveling back to Hanyan, but halfway through the loading screen, everything went black and I woke up here.”
SiCheng cursed inwardly. Spirit Mountain’s surrounding valleys were a medium-high danger zone. Hyeok had already reached level 50, the highest achievable at the time of the bizarre events going on at the moment, and he was also one of the best Assassin Class warriors in the whole Eastern Server. Still, SiCheng hated the fact that one of the most important people in his life was separated from the rest of them in such an unknown situation.
The sharp snap of a twig and a high-pitched growl had SiCheng whirling around, drawing his sword in a fluid move and sending an arch of amber light flying. The magic sliced through the wild boar that was about to attack them, making it shriek and disappear in a familiar flash of light. A small loot appeared where the animal had been, as usual. The rest of the guys stared in disbelief. “Did you just manifest your sword and cast an attack without referring to the menu?” asked Ming with a calculating gaze.
SiCheng looked down at the gleaming black steel sword in his hands and hummed in affirmation. The blade’s weight seemed more solid in his grip, real. He twirled it in a signature move his character had unlocked some time ago after finishing a limited-time seasonal challenge. The short sword dance was meant to speed up the recovery of Essence, the limited energy source they all carried and which enabled them to fight and use magic. The movement came naturally to him, muscles flexing and rippling realistically in his arm, even if he’d never done it in real life and wouldn’t have known what it truly felt like before. “I just thought about what attack I wanted to use and did it.”
In his upper left field of view, the green bar that represented essence re-filled the few points that had dropped after his attack. As he stared at it, he subconsciously thought of not needing his sword anymore and in a new flash of muted light, the steel body of his blade disappeared from his grasp.
There was quiet for a few seconds on their voice chat. “At least that means we’re not at the mercy of whatever the wild areas harbor,” said Ming finally. “We’re all over level 47, and by general rule, the monsters living near the main roads are under level 15. We should be safe while travelling if we stick to the inter-city routes.”
SiCheng made a quick mental calculation. “Hyeok, if I remember the general world map correctly, you should be about 120 Km away from Hanyan. Walking an average of 25 km a day, it should take you about 4 to 5 days of travel to get back.”
“I still have my ocarina,” reported Hyeok. “It won’t work until I’m out of the Mountain’s magic nullifying zone, but if I get going now, I should be able to reach the Gold Fountain safe zone by nightfall. I’ll rest there for the night and use it in the morning to call a transport beast.”
SiCheng hummed again. “We’re not sure of the amount of damage we can sustain and remain functional or if dying in-game will have major repercussions IRL, so don’t get yourself killed when riding,” he said. To everyone else, his tone was monotone and cold, but Hyeok knew him well enough to detect the worry and uncertainty in his voice.
“Remember, I’ve been riding horses since before I was able to walk, Cheng. I’ll be fine,” assured Hyeok, with a lilt of humor in his voice.
SiCheng tisked. “A horse and a magical beast are two very different things, Hyeok. Not to mention the 1000-meter fall distance if you slip off a sky mount.” Around him, the others exchanged tense glances.
A low chuckle came through. “Dramatic. But I’ll stick to ground transport if that makes you feel better.” A collective sigh left them, and after agreeing to additional precautions to take until they could all meet up again, they finally hung up.
Considering they were a few hours away from the safety of the nearest city, SiCheng had his team spar amongst them to try out some of their attacks. “Everything in this area should be low level enough not to pose a real threat to any of us,” he explained. “But the last thing we need right now is to be caught off guard if a monster comes at us.”
They verified that their attacks still used the same amounts of Essence as before and still had similar cooldown times. Feeling somewhat more grounded, the team finally set out to return to Hanyan, walking in their usual formation with Ming and Mao at the front and SiCheng taking the rear.
As their captain had foreseen, a horde of level 12 shadow wolves came at them not even an hour into their trek back. The unfamiliarity of feeling actual pain made most of them falter after they received their first wounds, but soon enough, they all fell into their routine monster-hunting rotations, finishing up the fight in less than ten minutes. They stood in the now-empty road, not really out of breath but feeling the realness of the situation crash over them like a bucket of cold water.
SiCheng narrowed his eyes as he studied the bleeding cut on his arm. An injury he’d sustained by interfering with an attack that would have had the potential of being fatal for a hesitating Pang. It stung like a bitch but there was also a tingling sensation rapidly numbing the whole area. The others gathered around him and gaped as the wound healed as if in fast-forward mode, closing up and scaring right before their eyes in less than a minute. As they stood there, SiCheng paid attention to his red health bar, filling up quickly along with his Essence bar. In five minutes, they had all gone back to full health. No one spoke as they resumed their trek, too engrossed in their own thoughts about the fantastical reality they had found themselves in.
Hours later, as they reached the summit of the low mountain they were on, Mao cocked his head and glanced around. “We’ve been walking for a while at a fast pace, and uphill,” he commented offhandedly, making K raise an eyebrow at him. “Does anyone feel tired?”
They stopped for a moment, and Ming took note of their health bar. “We’re not even winded and still at full health,” he said, brow furrowing.
Pang shrugged. “I’m a bit peckish, but I don’t feel lightheaded like I sometimes feel after our IRL fitness sessions.”
SiCheng nodded. “If my math is correct, the four hours since we woke up after the event are equivalent to one hour IRL,” he said. No one questioned him, already used to his quick calculations.
Ming’s frown deepened. “We had a roughly sixteen-hour game-time session already done when everything happened, so that would be around 5 to 6 hours since we last ate IRL. We should be hungry.”
SiCheng said nothing but started walking again, prompting the others to keep going. They could already make out the city gates looming over the trees up ahead. “There are many variables at play, and we don’t have all the data yet. Let’s get back to the city and we’ll try to make sense of everything once we’re at the Inn.” A chorus of affirmations followed his orders while the team picked up the pace.
Entering the city felt surreal. People looked scared and uncertain all around them. Lower-level players sat despondently around the main plazas, and some others with higher status had already taken to bossing others around. “I don’t like this,” said Ming to SiCheng, getting an agreeing nod from the captain.
“There should be automatic safeguards in place to prevent inter-player combat within the city walls,” he said, a twinge of wariness coloring his voice. “It’s best we don’t step in unless it’s completely necessary.”
The presence of his guild, which was known for not tolerating bullies, walking around the streets, was enough of a deterrent for many hot-headed players who thrived off of conflict. They made it to the Inn without having to break up any unruly behavior, only having to stop once or twice to glare at a few loudmouths who slinked away as soon as they recognized them.
Inside the big establishment, Rui raised his hand and called them towards one of the furthest corners of the main room, where a worried-looking Yue sat at their table nursing a pint of rye beer. Their youngest jumped up and fussed over them for a few moments, searching for injuries and bruises.
“We’re fine, Yue,” said Ming with a reassuring clap on the healer’s back. “We’re just a bit hungry, that’s all.”
Rui nodded and gave the beaming bartender a thumbs-up. “I ordered something for everyone, it should be here soon,” he said, ushering everyone into a seat.
Dinner was a bizarre experience. Before, eating something in the game restored their Essence and health, but tasted like nothing and felt like sipping on sparkling water without actually swallowing anything. Now, flavors and textures came forth like any real food would, delighting Pang, who nearly cried when he tried the fluff rabbit stew for the first time.
“Jaebum, the innkeeper, said his in-game wife, who is a line cook IRL and has a chef subclass, was able to actually cook instead of referring to the menu to craft dishes,” shared Rui while they ate. “It came naturally to her, like fighting with your sword was instinctual for you.”
“Ge has been using swords since he was a teen for wushu,” said Yue with a flick of his hand. “Of course, it comes naturally to him, magic or not.”
“It’s why I chose the swordsman class,” confirmed SiCheng with a dismissive shrug.
K cocked his head. “I chose the archer class because I used to do archery in school, and Mao is a brawler because he did MMA in uni.”
Ming sat back and crossed his arms. “Most of us chose to base our characters on things that were already familiar to us in one way or another. It would be understandable if that played a big part in how well we perform in this situation.”
SiCheng nodded, thinking of Hyeok’s black belt in Taekwondo and Kendo. It gave him small relief to know he had the means to protect himself out there. The Korean was the silent type and always preferred to follow rather than lead, but SiCheng trusted him implicitly to remain level-headed and sharp regardless of the situation. Still, there was a heaviness in his heart at the knowledge he would not be able to see him for at least a few days.
As they relayed the information they had gathered to Rui and Yue, his thoughts went out to the rest of the people they knew. Most of them were merchants, suppliers, and members of other teams with whom they often had friendly competitions or provisional alliances. There were also solo players they sometimes encountered and temporarily teamed up with for special events or emergency boss fights. So far, they weren’t able to reach out to any of their previous non-guild friends until they made one-on-one contact again. Jaebum, the innkeeper, was the first of their recovered contacts when they realized they could add him as a friend to their lists again after greeting him physically and reactivate the messaging option between them.
There were many others out there that SiCheng wanted to check on. How were they handling the situation? Were they safe, or had they been caught in dangerous areas like Hyeok? His thoughts went straight to her, the one player he had always wanted on his team, but who continued to drive him insane with her constant teasing refusals.
Flashback
Her onyx tresses flew behind her as she leaped down from the cliff wall, looking like a vision in her amethyst armor and wielding her moon steel sword over her head. He almost swore out loud at her risky move, but his current position rendered him unable to move or even speak, too busy focusing his energy on sustaining the tanking spell that was keeping him from being crushed to death in the cave golem’s grasp. A few paces from him and also with his health bar dangerously low, Hyeok was desperately trying to hack the monster’s arm off to get him to release SiCheng to notice her.
She landed lightly on the golem’s back and sank her glowing weapon into the boss’s neck. The monster roared and flung SiCheng away, the movement taking out Hyeok too in one go. Both of them recovered swiftly mid-air and twisted around to land feet first into a crouch that launched them back at it, weapons at the ready to finish off the trashing golem. Between the three of them, the fight ended quickly in their favor.
As they convened around the pile of bounty left behind after the defeated monster, the girl sighed fondly at them. “Didn’t I tell you not to go this way when we crossed paths earlier today?” she asked, perching her hands on her hips and cocking one eyebrow up. “Naughty boys. You guys never listen.”
SiCheng smirked as he kneeled and ceremoniously offered her a heaping bag of freshly collected gold and some of the rare items that he knew she would appreciate. “Warrior Princess Smiling, I hope you can forgive these foolish subjects for accidentally, but most definitely on purpose, not listening to you.”
She laughed and took the bag with one hand while handing them two vials of shiny red liquid.
The two men looked down at the top-notch healing potions and softened. As usual, she was nothing if not caring. “You’ve saved us again, Lady Smiling,” said KunHyeok, smiling gratefully at her as he took one of the potions and donned it in one go. His wounds sealed shut, and his body felt lighter now that he was not so low on health and Essence. “And just in time, as usual. Thank you.”
She shrugged and her eyes sparkled in mirth, letting them know she was smiling behind her facemask. “You’re welcome! Besides, I would have never been able to take on this dungeon on my own, so I should be thanking you for inspiring me to come after you,” she retorted, looking less tense now that the two of them were back at full health. “Come on, I heard this boss re-spawns every forty minutes, and unless you want to go another round with him, I suggest we scram.”
SiCheng fell in step with her, taking her right side while KunHyeok naturally stepped to her left. “Not gonna ask us why we’re on our own today?”
She shot him an amused glance. “You’re the only two members of your team who are crazy enough to come into this dungeon knowing losing here would bump you down two whole levels. I’m surprised MingShen didn’t talk you out of it,” she snarked back.
“The reward was too good to pass up,” said KunHyeok, a small satisfied smile playing on his lips. “We’re just a few points from reaching level 45 now, thanks to this.”
“You almost got yourselves killed for 9,000 xp?” she asked incredulously, preparing to jump up onto the ledge where the exit passage was.
SiCheng nodded to KunHyeok over her head and in one swift move lifted her between them, both of them smirking at her adorable squeak of surprise. She remained steady despite the surprise and easily pulled herself up. They chatted comfortably the whole walk out of the cave’s maze, relishing in the familiar feeling of being just the three of them, like it had been from the start, before SiCheng had decided to officially form ZGDX.
That day, they watched her leave with heavy hearts, but grateful for the chance of having lived another adventure beside he r.
End of Flashback
SiCheng sighed. He knew she had many friends who wouldn’t hesitate to lend her a hand if she found herself in need, but she had a penchant for finding trouble and taking off on her own half the time she was online, despite her lecturing the two of them everytime she found out they had deserted their guild for one quest or another. He only hoped she’d been somewhere safe or at least not on her own at that moment. “Be careful out there, Shorty,” he thought to himself.