The white light was completely blinding. It was not warm. It was not cold. It felt like absolutely nothing. Everett fell through the empty white space. He did not feel the wind. He did not hear any sound. He reached his pale, artificial right hand out, desperately trying to catch Alice. But the one-second delay in his arm was a terrible curse. His fingers closed on empty air. Alice was gone. The scarred, angry woman with the little girl's eyes had vanished into the bright white void. "Alice!" Everett tried to scream, but he had no voice. There was no air to carry the sound. He closed his green eyes. He waited to hit the ground. He expected to die. He only had 1 Health Point left. His ribs were completely shattered. His left arm was wrapped in bloody bandages. If he hit a hard floor, he would break into a million pieces. But he did not hit a hard floor. His boots touched down gently. It felt like landing on a thick, soft carpet. Everett opened his eyes. He was no longer in the da

For ten years, Everett had fought in the darkest, most dangerous dungeons in the world. He had killed boss monsters that no one else could touch. He had never spent his money on fancy armor or big houses. He just saved it. And recently, he had absorbed the 500,000 Experience Points and data files from his Alternate self. His Gold balance was unimaginably huge. [CURRENT BALANCE: 999,999,999 GOLD.]He was technically the richest entity on the server. He had hit the maximum integer limit. Everett stared at the number. Then he looked at the terrified crowd. "Rae," Everett said. His voice was incredibly deep, calm, and hard as stone. "Can I transfer my gold to them? Can I pay their rent?"Rae looked up at him. She frowned. "What? Pay their rent?""Can I pay the System to keep them alive?" Everett demanded. Rae quickly typed on her keyboard. She opened the deep administrative trading menus. "Yes," Rae whispered, her eyes going wide. "Everett, you have administrator access! You can open

Everett opened his eyes. He looked at the giant, terrified crowd of twenty-five thousand people. He looked at Garet. The large man met Everett’s eyes. Garet understood. Garet nodded slowly. He did not look angry. He looked incredibly sad, but he understood. "Do it, Everett," Garet whispered softly. "You gave us enough."[BALANCE: 50,000,000 GOLD.]Fifty seconds left. "I'm sorry," Everett cried out loud. His heart shattered completely. "I am so sorry!"Everett closed his pale, gray right hand into a fist. “One, Mississippi.” The command fired. The massive golden circle on the floor rapidly shrank. It pulled inward like a dying fire. It shrank past the outer edges of the crowd. It shrank past the mothers. It shrank past the old men. It shrank past Garet. It stopped when it formed a tiny, ten-foot bubble around Everett, Silas, Lyra, and Rae. The instant the golden light left the crowd, the red boxes appeared over their heads. There were no screams. There was no panic. The people s

Rae was sitting at her desk. Her six computer screens were completely black. She had taken her thick glasses off. She was staring blankly at the empty wall. Her face was red and swollen from crying. She looked completely broken. And Lyra. Lyra was sitting on the edge of Everett’s small metal cot. She was holding something in her lap. It was the torn, bloody piece of Everett’s dark brown cloak. She had found it after he disappeared. She was hugging the dirty cloth tightly against her chest. She was rocking back and forth slowly. Her beautiful silver eyes were completely empty. She looked like all the light in the universe had gone out. "Lyra," Everett said. He hit his fist against the glowing window. "Lyra, I am here!"In the bunker, Lyra did not look up. She kept rocking back and forth. "Silas! Rae!" Everett yelled. He slammed both of his hands against the glass. The glass rippled like a puddle of water, but it did not break. He shouted as loud as he could. He screamed until his

Everett hid behind cars. He hid under the stairs. He held his breath as the tall, black, glitching monsters walked right past him. He moved slowly and carefully, always heading toward the center of the city. He needed to find the Grand Palace. Finally, he reached the massive, wide avenue that led to the palace gates. The palace looked different in the gray world. It was not made of shining white marble. It looked like a dark, heavy, blocky fortress made of concrete. It looked like a prison. Everett snuck past two Void Walkers guarding the front gates. He climbed a broken wall and slipped inside the courtyard. He walked through the silent, gray halls of the palace. There were no golden chandeliers. There were no red carpets. It was just endless, gray, empty rooms. He walked toward the throne room. The heavy double doors were open. Everett peeked inside. The throne room was massive