The flashing light was relentless. My right hand was still extended, frozen mid-reach. I screamed—
"Ahhhhh!"
Then, silence.
I blinked.
The light was gone.
My arm was still stretched forward, but now... I was standing. In a place I knew—but it felt different.
I looked around, confused. "Wait a minute…"
This was where I'd last switched characters.
My heart dropped.
"No… no, no, no…"
I was in my support mage character.
I was Dila now.
And then I heard it—her voice. Soft, clear, gentle… and mine.
"Oh no," I whispered. "This is… my voice?"
I had never known Dila sounded so… cute. It felt surreal, wrong, beautiful, and terrifying all at once.
I turned slowly and saw the town in the distance.
The town.
The one I destroyed… as the berserker.
I gasped, eyes wide, and brought both hands to my mouth.
"Ahhhhhhh—"
I staggered, horror swelling in my gut. The blood. The shattered walls. Smoke curling into the sky.
All of it.
I felt like I was going to throw up. My vision blurred with tears, but I couldn't look away.
I had destroyed this place.
And now… I was standing in it.
I ran.
Through the broken gates, past the blood-soaked fields, I ran. My footsteps echoed in the emptiness, light and frantic—nothing like the heavy boots of the berserker I once was.
"Make it stop!" I screamed, voice breaking.
"Get me out of this world!"
Tears blurred my vision. I didn't care where I was going—I just needed to escape. The destruction, the memories, the weight of what I had done... it all clung to me like smoke.
"Whoever pulled me into this nightmare… I didn't agree to this!"
I clenched my eyes shut, still running blindly.
"I was forced! You forced me!"
But no voice answered.
Only the wind… and the sound of my own heartbeat, pounding in my ears like war drums.
And still—I ran.
I kept running until I couldn't anymore.
The ruined town was far behind me now. But the land ahead… it was endless. A stretch of desolate black rock beneath a sky of deep, rotting red. Silent. Empty.
I dropped to my knees, gasping for air.
"Haaa… haaa…"
My lungs burned. My chest tightened. I clutched my head, fingers digging into my scalp.
My eyes widened, trembling.
"I… I can't… I can't take this," I whispered, voice cracking. "Please… make it stop. No more…"
Tears rolled down my cheeks as I cried again. I screamed, face turned toward the sky:
"Didn't you hear me?! I didn't sign up for this! I never would!"
Then—static.
Soft at first. Warped laughter echoed from the silence, curling around me like a cold wind.
A voice followed. Calm, cruel.
"What are you talking about? You did sign up."
"If you didn't…" it sneered, "…then why did you extend your hand in the first place?"
I shook my head violently. "I—I didn't mean to! That wasn't consent! I panicked!"
The voice clicked with a faint chuckle. "Intent doesn't matter. A contract… is a contract."
"You must destroy all the infected. Didn't I tell you that already?"
I screamed back, rising to my feet, fists clenched.
"But I didn't agree to this! You dragged me in! This is your fault!"
The static only laughed.
And the sky watched, like it always had—blood red and merciless.
I stood there, shaking—breathing hard in the dead silence.
Then it hit me.
The Veil.
My eyes widened.
"The Veil… I didn't destroy it."
I stared back toward the town—far behind me now, lost in the haze of destruction and smoke.
The Veil was still standing. The cursed relic that respawned the infected every three days. In the game, I left it alone on purpose. A perfect farming mechanism. An endless loop of enemies, XP, and loot.
But now… I wasn't farming anymore.
I was living it.
And if I didn't destroy the Veil, the infected would keep coming. Over and over.
"I have to end it… I have to destroy it," I whispered, urgency pounding in my chest.
I shut my eyes tight.
"Come on… Think. Think. You can do it."
I tried to focus.
Switch characters.
"Just change back to the berserker… I need his strength—his power…"
I pushed harder, digging through memories.
But there was nothing.
No name. No trigger. No menu.
I reached further. Harder.
What… was my name?
Silence.
I blinked, tears filling my eyes.
The only name that came to me…
Was Dila.
I staggered backward, choking on a breath.
"No… That's not… I'm not just her—I had a name. A real one…"
I raised both hands in front of my face, trembling.
"I didn't sign up for this… I didn't…"
But the world didn't care.
And the name Dila echoed louder in my mind, as if the world had already decided who I was now.
I stood there—frozen—tears running down my face.
My breath came in broken gasps as I opened my trembling hand and swiped downward, instinctively.
The menu. Settings. Character screen.
Nothing.
Just empty space.
"No… no, no," I whispered. My voice cracked as I swiped again, over and over.
Still nothing.
I clenched my teeth, fists shaking.
Then I shut my eyes tight, heart pounding.
"Berserker… where are you?"
I dropped to my knees and screamed toward the sky, flailing both hands like a child lost in a storm.
"Where are you when I need you right now?!"
Silence.
The sky gave no answer.
Only the endless red glow above… and the quiet wind that sounded far too much like a whisper of something watching.
I took a shaky breath.
"Alright… alright…"
I wiped the tears from my face, trying to steady my hands.
"I just need to figure this out… one step at a time."
I stood straight and raised my right hand toward the sky.
"Come on…" I whispered, voice hoarse. "Just summon the staff…"
A faint glow sparked in my palm.
Small at first. Fragile. But there was power in it.
Sweat beaded down my temple as I shut my eyes tight.
"Think the wand… think the wand…"
The light pulsed—growing.
Then it stretched, flickering like magic woven from memory. I felt it—solidifying—metal humming beneath the forming aura.
Slowly, the staff took shape.
Long. Sleek. Forged from deep, dark orchilum—a metal that shimmered like shadows under moonlight. Floating shards of jagged steel hovered around it, orbiting with sharp precision, like blades caught in stasis.
And at its core—
A pulsing shard.
Glowing a fierce, electric blue.
Alive.
I opened my eyes, panting, staring at the weapon now gripped in my hand.
"I did it…"
And for the first time since waking in this world—
I felt ready.