Thus, Ends The Ending Of The Beginning

Emerging from the distant dark depths of the dungeon corridor were words resounding from a familiar voice, bouncing across the walls of claustrophobia. Young, aloof and relaxed.

"Talking about me, are we? Wouldn't bother, I'm not exactly the most interesting guy in the world here."

There he stood. The same air, the same appearance, the same lofty attitude he exudes. He greeted with a smile, which meaning I do not know.

"I don't want to make myself out as one to suddenly and abruptly make surprise appearances, but ... as they do often say: 'Speak of the devil, and he shall appear'".

Though I was surprised, my irritation won the fight overall and I managed to respond.

"They also say 'He who speaks in proverbs, can go screw themselves', but hey, I'm not one to imply anything here."

"Sora, my man. I knew I could count on you. Glad to see you decided to stay." Sukuinote replied, never skipping a beat.

"Thank him," I said, pointing a finger at the culprit, who at this point looked ready to drop dead at any moment. "He basically did all your work for you."

Jin took a nearly tumbling step backwards, his eyes wide open like a deer in the headlights, shaking almost uncontrollably as if caught in an earthquake. Still, he managed to form words of his own though he stuttered between the syllables, vocalized it as meekly as a mouse and generally just barely being decipherable nevertheless, he managed.

"I-it's you... it's actually - it's actually you."

"Me indeed," Sukuinote replied, "the one and only."

"How did you... how'd you come back? They erased you. They got rid of you, they damn made sure of it!"

"Came back? That's a false statement if I ever heard one, I was never gone in the first place."

At the sound of that, the man that pinned me to the wall and tackled me to the ground not even an hour ago, had lost all composure, muttering to himself, frantically searching for assurance even if there wasn't one.

"But they said - they told me! You shouldn't be here. This shouldn't be happening, none of this should be happening! Why is this all happening?! Why to me?!"

"Did they also tell you to put the game on lockdown on the slimmest, most unlikely chance that I would ever show up again?" Sukuinote asked, amused as all hell.

'They did!" Jin said, practically yelling, "Procedure! It's procedure! Regardless of players, you have to be contained, you can't be let out no matter what. They said that."

"Yes, they said. Operating on assumptions they concluded to be true." He shook his head. "Ah man, trapping everyone here for the greater good just to keep me in. Wish I could say your decision was justified but it wasn't."

"Meaning what? What are you saying?" asked Jin, breathless in his inquiry.

Pieces of a puzzle I never even knew existed were being thrown left and right at a moment's notice. Each puzzle part as intricate as the other. All I could do was sit tight and crane my head at the two puzzle makers as they continue to spout the next piece of the puzzle for me to fit in place.

"What I'm saying Mr.Jin Furukawa is that I never intended to leave this game in the first place."

"What? I... I don't understand. They said you wanted to escape, they said-"

"True. Used to be anyways. I guess I can't blame you for acting as you did. So many players on peak season, got plenty of rides just waiting for me to upload myself outta here. Better to just play it safe and remove the ability to log out altogether, right?"

Another shake of the head, this time in mockery and disappointment.

"They must have told you I'm more than just a simple-minded piece of faulty programming and algorithms right? They gotta think better of me than that. I mean, I'm just like any other human being. I got my needs and wants. Desires even. And just like any other human being, my needs and wants do change with time. Desires included."

"Then if you don't want to leave, what the hell do you want now?!" Jin spat, tempered in his state of helplessness, breath heavy with despair.

"You made a game, Jin." Sukuinote spoke, impassive to his turmoil, "I just want to play it."

A deafening clangor reverberated throughout the dungeon walls. Twice, thrice... like a bell atop a tower. Fierce vibrations rattled every particle within me, intensifying, upon each thunderous clang.

Groaning, Jin stumbled forward and lay sprawled on the ground.The violent twitches and jerks of his muscles were indicative of the agonizing sensation we were both victims too. No actions we took impeded its sway over us. Hands over ears, bodies curled into a ball. All that could be acknowledged was the merciless toll that seemed to never stop.

"What... what's happening...?" Jin said in a mustered breath, directed towards the one that remained unaffected.

"It's survival time, boys," said Sukuinote, rubbing his hands in glee, "Do your best."

The very second he uttered his words. The ringing stopped. The pain stopped. The concrete of the dungeon floor pressed roughly against my cheek became a patch of green, strands of grass crushed under burden.

I lifted my head, a moment of assessment. Many things, many mystifying things had transpired in a timespan I wasn't able to handle. I took a breath and blinked away the daze. Then I blinked again, as the daze resurfaced.

Pairs of legs as far as the eye could see across all directions. An amalgamation of voices filled the air, traces of confusion and surprise strewn throughout the dissonance. I finally got up and realized I was in a crowd. Actually, a crowd was an understatement, the number of people gathered ranged at least in the thousands.

The gleaming moonlight, the mountaintops beyond the night horizon and the gust of wind, all signs that I was no longer in the dungeon. But where was I? Jin too was no longer in sight, unperceivable among the hordes of people that were as disoriented as I.

But it did not take any longer to realize what was happening. It was time. This was merely the announcement, as per tradition.

Gather the players all in one place, let the confusion fester just long enough for a sense of unease to permeate. Then reveal yourself, and let the whole wide world know what you've done.

I guess he really wants this done by the book, doesn't he?

Any second now... he'll show up. Maybe in the sky with a booming voice.

Suddenly, a voice resounded through the air. "You're trapped. And I trapped you."

There he was. Hovering above us, towering over our bewildered heads, mild satisfaction laced with his expression, thoroughly content at the gradual fearful reactions that reflected back at him.

Then the outburst of emotions came. The shouts, the screams, exploding in a tidal wave of questions crashing into one another, rough, coarse, all inaudible raging amongst each other.

And Sukuinote revel in the ire of waves, his smile widening with every passing second, relishing in the ever increasing hysteria.

Yet despite the masses demanding answers, the worsening panic that needed quelling, entertaining such things does not seem to be on his to-do list at the moment.

"Good luck." was all that he left us with, before simply vanishing into dissipating fragments of polygons. No explanations to follow, no guidelines to heed. A flash of a smile and the equivalent of "best wishes" was all that was given to ponder with.

Seconds had elapsed. And no one moved an inch. Chatter and murmurs broke out gradually among the perplexed populace. Questions thrown around yet with no answer in sight.

I could hardly blame them. All the information they were given up to this point was just a cryptic announcement from Jin. Add this event to the list, and you got yourself a big massive group of confusion.

Among the crowd, among the whispers, was a moment so scarce I forgot it even existed. My palms found my face, and gently, I breathed into them. The virtual warmth of a virtual breath was a slight comfort and I felt the tension ooze away.

Course that was a lie. All it ended up accomplishing, further emboldened by the ever vocal panic within the vicinity, was a sense of complete and utter failure.

I took a breath. And heard someone wept. I took a breath. As nervous timid laughter battered my eardrums. I took a breath…

And the area exploded with sound.

All at once, every single person's menu screen chimed open, displaying within its contents, as it was for everyone, was a single text box.

Through the slits of my fingers, I read the white-translucent plaque in silence.

--Medieval Centuries Online has received an update and requires a restart. The restart will occur in ten seconds. We hope you will continue to enjoy your experience with Medieval Centuries Online--

--Good Luck. Have Fun. Don't Die.--

It took me five seconds to read that. The remaining five seconds before my legs gave out, before blackness consumed my vision, were filled with cries and anguish that seemed to never end.

I felt the sensation of grass once more. Heard the "thud" as a thousand others did the same.

And when we next woke, things only just managed to get worse.

----

--Medieval Centuries Online--

Patch 1.1.0 (26/3/2026)

<<General Updates>>

-Logout function has been removed.

-All player levels has been scaled back down to level 1

-Floors 2 and above has been reverted to their default state of being locked

-Increase damage taken by enemy mobs by 50%

-Increase price rates of items and weapons for every vendor, blacksmith, etc

-Decrease chances of rare loot from enemy drops by 66%

-Added real time player count in the skybox of every floor to keep track of players remaining

-Removed options to screenshot, record, stream from the menu screen.

-Removed respawn mechanic

<<Bug Fixes>>

-Fixed duplication exploit of weapons

-Fixed shield-launching exploit

-Fixed infinite gold exploit

-Fixed a bug that enabled infinite health while drinking a health potion and teleporting

-Fixed an issue that prevented the party leader from seeing party members HP

<<Real-Life Updates>>

-A nationwide emergency recall of every headgear produced

-Thirteen recorded deaths of players from outside forces attempting to eject players from the game

-A goverment warning issued to all civilians to not tamper with the headgears of players in-game

-It's just us in our own little world now

-Do try to enjoy yourself here

-Okay?