1 Prologue

A bright light flashed before me, blinding my vision for a short while. No ground touched my feet as if I was floating in space. I observed my surroundings. There was nothing but darkness. Am I dreaming? Then, pixels manifested in front of my eyes. They soon formed into words.

You Died

Do you want to restart?

>Yes

>No

Did I fell asleep while playing? I must have forgotten to turn off my PC again. It's kinda odd that I can't remember anything before sleeping. Anyway, it's best to choose No for now. I didn't got any rest these past days due to my gaming addiction.

A white box encased the word as I selected it. Colored pixels suddenly appeared around me. It looked liked a glitching computer screen. The white box moved to Yes, which I did not choose. "Hey! Wait! What about my sleep?!" I do not want to restart it! Let me get my sleep! Oh God!

The light flashed again. I covered my eyes from its brightness. When I thought it was gone, I looked around. Tall trees of different colors covered the area around me. The setting gave the impression of a magical forest. A spectacled rabbit jumped out of the hole meters across me. It hopped nearer and spoke in an elderly male voice, "My, my, what do we have here? An extra participant, are you?

"What do you mean?" It is quite rare to have a conversation with a talking rabbit. Well, I guest it's not strange for a game.

"Oh, were you thinking this is a game? Aren't you a naive player?"

What? How did he knew that? Was that a coincidence?

The rodent continued to laugh at me. "Does your monitor have the ability to cover this realistic futures? I believe not. You do not own a virtual reality console either, am I correct?"

How come he knows all this? He's not talking like an NPC (nonplayer character) anymore.

"Finally! A precise answer! I am Metatron, the moderator of the first stage, and I can read what you are thinking." His words further confused me. "I am the only moderator with the capability to see the players' thoughts."

Is this a game or—

"Yes, this is a game, but not like the games you play on your personal computer." He smiled, showing his two large teeth. "This is what, you humans, call the Afterlife. You died in the real world, my child."

The Afterlife? Died? What the hell?