The white light flooding Max's vision slowly faded.
"Welcome."
A female voice echoed in the emptiness.
Max blinked, his surroundings snapping into focus.
He looked around in confusion—and awe.
He had finally joined the game everyone had been talking about for months.
On release day, no less.
Dozens of millions of players logging in at the same time.
Max didn't notice the crowd of people first. It was the sky. It hosted two suns in its vastness.
Then he felt the warmth hit his skin from the suns. Not simulated. Not dulled. Real.
His mouth opened slightly.
The rest of the world rushed in after that.
A wide stone square stretched around him, centered by a fountain whose water moved with unnerving precision—every ripple, every splash perfectly formed. On top of it was a statue of a knight. White stone pathways cut through segments of grass, flowers and bushes.
Max turned slowly.
Tall yellow-stone walls enclosed the square, carved with arches and fine patterns that looked too detailed to be procedurally generated. Openings in the walls led into a larger city beyond.
And then—
The fifty meter tall trees.
Four of them stood at the corners of the square, their trunks a deep blue, their branches heavy with oversized pink fruit. They were impossible. Completely unnatural.
"…What the hell," Max muttered under his breath.
It felt like he was inside something. Not looking at a screen. Not controlling a character.
Inside.
Like this world had accepted him.
He exhaled slowly, grounding himself.
Then he noticed someone else.
A guy a few meters away stood almost exactly the same way—head tilted up, hand raised to shield his eyes from the twin suns, turning in place like he was trying to process too much at once. Not behaving like the NPC around him.
Not an NPC, Max could tell.
"Hey!"
The guy snapped out of it and looked over. Max raised a hand. The other guy hesitated for half a second, then waved back. Max walked toward him.
"Hi! You're a player too?" he asked Max.
"Yeah, just joined. This is...insane."
Up close, the facial contrast was almost jarring—curly white hair, golden eyes that caught the light and tan skin. Max on the other hand, had plain brown eyes and dark brown hair.
"Right? I thought people were exaggerating. I can't see your username though."
"Same."
There was a brief pause—not awkward, just both of them still adjusting.
"I'm Arlan, you?
"Max. Oh wait, shouldn't we ask for our usernames? Hah."
Arlan chuckled. "Since we can't see each other's usernames, I guess calling each other by our first names is fine. Easier to remember."
Max nodded. "You're right. Anyway, you got any ideas on what to do?"
Arlan was silent for a couple of seconds. "Uh, no idea."
"Yeah, I don't know where to start. Wanna check some places out together?"
Arlan nodded, then he suddenly stiffened. "Wait—how do I—"
He froze mid-sentence, eyes unfocusing slightly.
Max tilted his head. "What?"
"My—there's something in front of me."
"What do you mean?"
"How do I get out of the menu?!" Arlan asked with a slightly raised voice. Max frowned slightly, he couldn't see what Arlan was seeing.
"The menu?" Max asked, then a second later, a translucent interface snapped into existence in front of him.
"…Oh."
"Oh." Arlan said at the exact same time.
They both went quiet for a couple of seconds.
Max moved his eyes slightly, testing it. The interface followed naturally, like it belonged there.
"Oh okay," Arlan said right after.
"I opened it somehow. There is no X or close button," Max said. "Did you close it?"
"Yep, I think you command it, with your mind. You opened it cause you thought of it, probably?"
Max mentally commanded the menu to close it and it did. "Well that's dope."
"I see five bars at the bottom left corner. The red one is probably for health? There's blue, orange, yellow and white too," Arlan said.
"Same for me."
Max focused on the red bar, and small letters appeared next to it, forming the word "Health" and that it was at 100 percent.
"Oh, focusing on one of them reveals what it's for and it's percentage," Max said.
"M'kay. Where do we go now?"
"Uh, how about we go to that white tower in the distance? We can check out some places along the way." Max pointed at a tall building that seemed to be a hundred meters high with one red, one green and one blue ring wrapped around it, disconnected from the building but somehow floating.
"Go there?"
"Yeah, I told Alex, a friend of mine, that I'll meet him there. Basically, it's like a massive gym, but for aura. It'll help us noobs get used to this stuff."
Arlan looked at him with an open mouth.
"Alright, we'll have to make some money though," he said a couple of seconds later.
"Yeah, we won't enter the gym now but it's a memorable building, so we agreed to meet there."
"Alright, you know any ways to make some buck? I wanna be out there in the world. We could go together."
"I've got a few things in mind," Max said with a smile. "Like I said, I came prepared. I know what to do."
The golden eyed player smiled back. "Lead the way man."
The two of them walked out of the walled-off square and into the streets of the city.
"Holy shit," Arlan said with a chuckle.
The expanse of the white and mellow yellow city with gardens, terraces and red, blue and yellow rooftops unfolded in front of the players. The streets were clean and had bushes and colorful trees on each side.
"So where are you from? I live in Macedonia," Arlan said with a smile.
"I'm from Italy. South. You got anyone you know playing this game?"
"Yeah, one of my friends bought the X-VR too. I'll talk to him when I log out, see how we can meet each other."
Max nodded. "It'll take a while."
"Yeah..."
"Did he spawn in this city?" Max asked.
"He spawned in a neighboring town."
Max nodded. "We spawned in the biggest city in the game. I also got a brother who bought this game but he spawned in a distant village. We'll meet each other one day."
Arlan cracked his neck twice. "You can even do this," he said.
Max chuckled. "Spawning here offers more opportunity but it's way harder to navigate and fit in."
"Yeah, I feel a little intimidated honestly." Arlan looked around himself, mouth open.
Clothing was displayed outside the small stores. Max's gaze lingered on the small restaurants with open fronts. He noticed foods not found in real life. A woman with red hair ate something purple with the shape of a hoof. Small, miscellaneous stores packed with items Max couldn't immediately identify.
Arlan slowed slightly at one of them, glancing inside.
"They really didn't half-build this game. Everything feels like it's meant to be accessed," Arlan said.
Max didn't stop walking but his gaze wandered everywhere with curiosity. "That's how they promoted it. The devs said it has everything and anything."
Arlan gave a quiet hum and caught up. "Wanna level up together? Kill monsters, find cool shit to do?" the white haired player asked.
"Hell yeah man, we're gonna need a squad for fighting monsters and exploring. The more people the better."
Arlan smiled. "We're definitely gonna die a few times before getting used to the combat."
"Definitely," Max said with chuckle. "We should pick a spot to meet if we get split after death."
Ahead, the street began to rise.
Not too sharply—just enough to notice. The mellow yellow stone beneath their feet sloped upward, merging seamlessly into a wide bridge a hundred meters ahead that stretched between two buildings. It wasn't attached in the way Max expected. The ends connected, yes—but the center dipped slightly, unsupported, like it had been shaped into place rather than constructed.
Bridges connected rooftops at uneven heights, some sloping upward, others dipping before rising again, forming a network above the streets below. It was somewhat chaotic.
"Wait…" Arlan looked up, turning slowly. "We're on top of buildings, aren't we?"
Max glanced over the edge of the street with an open mouth.
Below them—another layer of the city.
"Man, what the hell are we playing?" he said.
They crossed another bridge that had countless leaves and unusual, purple and brown flowers with long stems hanging from it on both sides.
Arlan brushed the leaves lightly with his hand as he passed.
"…Feels real," he said.
At some point, Arlan glanced up again at the two suns.
"…Still can't get over that," he muttered.
Max chuckled. "This is ridiculous. How is this game even running?"
A brief pause.
Then—
"Feels like we're actually here, you know?" Arlan said. "Not playing. But actually… here."
Max slowed for a moment, taking in the city before answering.
"I wonder how much they spent making this," he said eventually. "No one's beating this game anytime soon."
That line stayed with him.
Feels like we're actually here.
Back then, it sounded exciting. The feeling of not playing this game, but actually being here.
Now…
Max exhaled slowly, eyes still on nothing.
I wonder where you are now, he thought.
A knock on the door pulled him out of his head, as he was daydreaming in his bed. It was the day after the tournament. He was laying down on the soft mattress and blankly staring at the white ceiling.
He sometimes liked to reminisce about things. The past. In this game and in real life. "I've come far," he said to himself as he got up off the bed. He walked up to a dark wood door and opened it. Eliyah was on the other side.
"Hey Max."
"Hey, wanna come in?"
Eliyah nodded and stepped inside. The room had yellow white walls, a dark wood bed, a yellow wood closet with pretty, branching patterns with a mirror.
They stood on an orange carpet.
"I talked with some people about the tournament. Also overheard some stuff."
"Like what?" Max asked.
"Tasmon is in the tournament."
"The knight?" Max frowned.
Exhaling, Max scratched the back of his head.
"Y'know, while watching your fight, I could tell you got much better, stronger. But I don't want you to risk losing your life or getting irreversible injuries."
Max nodded. "Thanks man. But don't worry about me. I got a strong regeneration ability, and the emperor rarely ever orders the death of a competitor."
"What if he somehow recognizes you though? Tasmon, I mean."
"Nah, he won't. It's not like they have pictures of what we look like. Plus, I really want to do this tournament. The victory high I felt yesterday was indescribable. I'll be fine, don't worry about me."
Eliyah nodded. "If you're sure."
"Yo." Thomas peeked his head in Max's room.
Max and Eliyah turned around.
"Manuel got some dope ass food that he tried yesterday. He wants us to try it. You coming for a bite?"
"Yeah," said Max.
"I thought Manuel doesn't like food. He eats so slow every time." Eliyah said as he ran a hand through his hair while he walked out of the room with Max.
"This is different, trust me," Thomas said with a smile.