Dungeon of Pride, Laplace

It was the year 2125, the world witnessed a remarkable technological revolution that began at the end of the 21st century and continued to advance rapidly in the 22nd century.

During this period, the gaming industry experienced an unprecedented surge in popularity, giving rise to numerous companies, each striving to create the most captivating and immersive games. Among them, Astro Revolution stood tall, renowned for its exceptional game mechanics and innovative approach. It released one sensational game after another and instantly captured the player base of the whole world in a couple of decades.

Furthermore, the company is also reputed for employing young and talented groups of game developers. All these factors ensured its continuous hegemony.

Simon aged 35, unmarried; was employed by Astro Revolution in the year 2112 as an assistant game developer. Filled with intense passion and ingenious ideas for developing games, he quickly rose to become the head of his department in merely 5 years.

His division consistently and continuously delivered one popular game after another. There was no one in the company that did not know them, one could even say that they were bathing in success, and Simon was right in the heart of it.

In 2122, Simon and his team embarked on their most ambitious project yet - the development of a groundbreaking new game.

Aged 45, Simon poured all his years of experience, knowledge, heart, and soul into this project, considering it his magnum opus, surpassing all previous achievements.

Simon planned on making it his most masterful piece of work that out shadowed all the other games he had ever made.

During this period of time, he slept and ate in his office, sometimes he got so engrossed in writing codes that he skipped his sleep and meals.

More often than not he would blabber and keep on going through all the codes in his mind whenever he had free time. When his colleagues would take a break or a day off from their work, he would sit in his office racking his brain for ideas, run codes then debug them. All of his free time was dedicated to it.

One could say this became the daily routine of the man named Simon.

  -----

In a spacious and cluttered room, multiple displays of monitors ran intricate lines of codes, tables were strewn with disorderly contents, tablets scattered across the floor, and in one corner lay a makeshift bed with a mattress and pillow. The room was the epitome of chaos.

Simon who delved deeper and deeper in his work was many times approached by his fellow developers to spend some time off of work.

However, their well-intentioned words fell on deaf ears. Months passed in this relentless pursuit, as Simon's job became his entire life. His health deteriorated, but he paid no heed, pouring all his effort into developing the game he had devoted his life and soul to.

By the middle of 2123, the game finally passed all legal challenges and entered the beta testing phase.

Initial reviews and testing went smoothly, raising hopes for a successful launch at the end of the year.

But when that highly anticipated moment came, it turned into a heartbreaking setback as the game's mechanics failed repeatedly, plagued by bugs that seemed insurmountable. The beta test proved to be a critical challenge, and the game failed to pass muster by the year's end.

  -----

Late at night, lightning flickered across the sky, accompanied by unceasing rain pouring down outside

  Simon sat in his office chair, his eyes fixed on the main menu of LAPLACE—the game into which he had poured his heart and soul. He considered it his brainchild, but despite all his efforts, the game couldn't pass the final phase of beta testing. It failed to take off.

Meanwhile, an extraordinary phenomenon unfolded outside. The ceaseless rain suddenly halted, and droplets of water remained suspended in mid-air. It was as if time itself had frozen, leaving everything, living or non-living, motionless.

Inside this suspended time where everything had stopped, a man could be seen working endlessly in his office. The man was none other than Simon.

WHOOSH... suddenly, tthe dense clouds surrounding the region parted, revealing the brilliant night sky. Innumerable stars could be seen twinkling, and the sky outside at this moment was so clear and visible that it was as if all the layers of atmosphere around the entire earth had disappeared.

An extremely distant star that was impossibly far and impossible to perceive from here, began to shine with a strange radiance at this moment. The ray of light that shone from the star was so dazzling that it could cross that limitless distance and shine on what appeared to be one spot, or more precisely, one man.

At this moment, Simon was working in his workstation unaware of the bizarre phenomenon that had occurred outside. 

The game he had dedicated himself to developing had failed to pass the beta test, leaving him in a gloomy mood. His eyes were bloodshot from sleep deprivation as he stared at the main menu of Laplace.

He didn't know why but for some reason, he felt an unknown resonance that felt strangely familiar with the screen displaying the menu of this game. The feeling lasted only for a fleeting moment before disappearing.

The peculiar phenomenon outside also vanished at the same moment and time started flowing once again at its usual pace. The rain resumed its descent, and the thick clouds obscured the sky once more. The momentary view witnessed would likely never be seen again.

Simon had a blank face for a while before quickly coming to his senses. He brushed off that unknown feeling before focusing his attention on the screen. Unbeknownst to him, a faint golden glow appeared deep within his dull black eyes.

After the initial failure at beta testing, he started putting more of his time developing and fixing the game. He stopped going home and started living in his office.

Days passed by, Simon got endlessly engrossed in his work. The faint golden glow in his eyes started becoming a glaring shade and the quick whitening of his hair and his thinning face made him look like the very definition of a maniac.

  -----

The year 2124, June—In the blink of an eye, 6 months passed and Simon like a fanatic devoted all his time of the year to the game.

And as result, most of the bugs were cleared, and the company decided to put the game through a second round of beta testing. All the problematic mechanics were reconstructed and reviews responded with overwhelming positivity. Finally, the game passed the second beta test with ease.

With this success, the company set the launch date for LAPLACE at the beginning of the year 2125.

During this period, Simon passed out many times while working. Waking up only when his fellow developers called out to him. Clearly, he had accumulated too much stress and had overworked his body to its limits.

His colleagues tried to persuade him to see a doctor, but Simon paid them no mind. His attention was entirely fixed on the impending launch of the game, now just one month away.

At this point, Simon had a head full of white hair, despite being only 48 years old. His single-minded focus on the game had made him an outcast in his group, as he limited his social interactions to a bare minimum. Most of his time was spent near his computer, staring at the main menu of the game, determined to make it a resounding success.

  ----

It was the year 2125, today marks the official launch of the game LAPLACE.

In the early hours of the morning, as Simon's fellow group members entered the office, they found him in front of his computer, lying with his head down. It had become almost a daily sight for them to find Simon in this state.

Concerned for their dedicated colleague, some of them tried to wake him up, but their efforts were in vain. Though Simon was somewhat of an outcast in their group, they were all fully aware of the immense effort he had poured into developing the game. If anyone claimed that the game was solely the work of Simon, no one in the group would dispute it.

Thus, they attempted to shake him awake, as they reasoned it necessary for him to watch the official launch of the game he had sacrificed so much for.

However, no matter how many times they shook him or called out to him, they recieved no response.

Later a piece of news spread among the company Simon, one of the elite game developers had passed away in his office.