I'm Athanasios, a virtual citizen of Elysium. I was born into this boring game world that everyone praises to be amazing and emulates paradise. How do they know it's a paradise? We've never been to the real world or any other world besides this one. Yeah, we've heard a few stories. The real world is a dangerous place filled with monsters, mayhem, and chaos. Others have said someone like me wouldn't last a day in the real world. I'd prove them wrong given the chance. Elysium feels like the same thing all the time, sure there are a few tweaks here and there, but nothing extraordinary.

"Oh man, I'm bored!" I snarl at Smeme, my best friend and colleague. He looks up at me from his task at hand and shrugs.

"Nothing on your mind?" I laugh, mocking him with another quick shrug.

"You're always bored," Smeme smiles.

My job is basically that of working in a glorified arcade. Should be heavenly, right? Every day involves playing boring arcade games, but somehow this helps the mainframe computer solve problems faster. We all do boring, repetitive tasks, like a program inside a game. Technically, that's what we are. Our actual bodies, our artificial wombs, are disposed of on the sixteenth day after our birth, when the neural tube forms. Then everything else is just AI. At times I feel we're fakes. Maybe not slaves, but drones all the same. Day in and day out, useless repetitive games. Even on the hardest difficulty, nothing really poses a challenge. I guess that's one reason I dream of seeing the real world. The challenges that would come with it. For thousands of years that is where people struggled, survived, and those that were the best rose to the top.

I want to see how the real world is for once but that's just me. Everyone I know is happy with their lives here.

"I did it! I'm done for today," Smeme's lazy voice reaches my ears. He crawls from his chair and approaches me silently. "Still not done?"

"Almost," I reply nervously to his Level-100 slime avatar. From the gazillion available avatars of different sizes and types, my friend chose the strangest of all for some reason. He said that it cost him just one processing unit coin, so why pay more? Compared to my great elven mage avatar I wear today, he looks half-pint. Still, for a slime he has the ability to take a humanoid form. Usually, this is about five feet tall male in his mid-twenties. I honestly have no idea if we are the same age, but it is kind of nice to have someone around. Honestly, though, he is pretty generic looking. We are both dressed in our casuals, not like we have to even be dressed at all, but we manage to keep up appearances. Smeme is wearing one of his blue graphic neckties with a red slime smiling on a rock. It almost looks real, but I'm sure that it's just him making a show of his level-100 abilities. Being able to take a humanoid form makes it easier for him to take part in a variety of tasks too. Still, he has the advantage in most games, being able to change shape.

"If I didn't know better, I would say you had big plans later," I tell him.

"Yeah but you DO know better," Smeme smiles taking his natural form. His casual outfit gives way and he sits there waiting on me to finish.

The final pixelated boxes are in place and a notification pops-up before me.

Congratulations! Main Quest completed. You earned 3456 processing unit coins!

"Finally," I sigh in relief. I dismiss the notification, then another, one I always hate appears, reminding me of my position.

Leaderboard status 1024.

Last again in my sector. Smeme always manages to be one of the top ten players. He's a boring man, so it makes sense winning on boring games! Ha, take that my friend. Joking aside, Smeme is great at what he does, a level-100 avatar, unlike me and my measly level-7 mage. If he wanted, he could be admitted inside Elysium, instead of staying here in Asphodel Meadows with me.

Elysium’s virtual world is divided into sectors: Asphodel Meadows, where the common folk like us stay; Elysium, for those who distinguished themselves; and the Isles of the Blessed, for the elite few who did significant things for our world. There's Tartarus also, a place where criminals are transferred for all eternity. Do not want to go there.

"I wish I could see the real world," I start the usual conversation that bugs my mind these last months.

"That again? We've seen several videos of the real world and there's even a simulation of how it used to be. Seems absolute boredom to me. Besides, the only way to go there is by committing a serious crime here. They will strip everything off your avatar and even wipe out your memories."

"I know," I nod at him.

"But you should stop saying that you want to leave Elysium. I heard stories that people who don't want to stay here disappear forever!"

"Elysium sucks for all I care," I shout unconsciously.

Smeme stares at me frightened with his slimy ball for a face. He's changed shape again. It's nuts watching him do it. His graphic necktie and pants disappear inside his blue body. Everything but his eyes and mouth have disappeared.

Although there's no penalty for expressing your negative opinion for Elysium and the Great Administrator openly, several have been transferred to another sector or disappeared for less. It seems that our Supreme Ruler is more despot than we'd like to believe.

"Watch your words!" Smeme warns me again.

I can see the panic in his little slime eyes. I've known no one that has disappeared, but several years ago Smeme had. Since then he's always kept a close eye on me. Kind of like the big brother. Sister? Slime are confusing. Either way, he was the big, err... tiny brother I never wish I had.

"I know, I don't want the boogeyman to get me," I laugh.

"It's serious... you should learn to be more careful. You don't want to get in trouble. I might not care that you hate Elysium and find everything boring, but others will."

"What others? You are pretty much the only person here I talk to besides Leda." I'm being serious now.

"Look, you know we all have your best interests in mind."

I nod. To be honest, he’s right.

After that we started on our way out. It was a quiet afternoon with more of the same. Same sunny sky as always in Asphodel Meadows. We continue walking (and crawling), till we reach my home, a tower without a door. I always wondered how come there was never a little trail left behind Smeme as he crawled along, but I decided it was just another part of living in the Meadows. Everything was elegant, and to the Supreme Ruler's liking, even the slime.

"Home, sweet home," I scoff in irony. "Well, see ya tomorrow!"

"B-bye..." He tries.

Without waiting for my friend's reply, I open a portal and I am transferred inside the safety of my dungeon tower. Great! I was hoping I would finish my job early today, so that I could become a Dungeon Core and accept low-level adventurers. Seems I barely have time to prepare the traps and the treasures anymore. Playing as a Dungeon Core was slightly less boring than the games in the arcade but still, without being able to invest more time I could only have so much fun.

Suddenly, the chat icon appears and I activate it. It's Leda, my friend and the leader of the adventurers who will try to raid my dungeon tower tonight.

Leda: Something came up, we won't be coming today. Have a great day!

Me: What? We've been preparing this for weeks! You can't just cancel everything. What happened?

The chat icon deactivates and Leda seems to be offline again. I try to message her, but the message box seems deactivated. Strange, it's the first time I've encountered something like this in my twenty-four years. A glitch maybe? I thought everything worked perfectly in this paradise of ours.

"Such is living in paradise," I exclaim.

My mocking is short-lived. A message reaches my inbox. The subject is in capitals.

"YOU'RE INVITED TO PLAY A SPECIAL GAME EXPERIENCE".

What's this? I've played everything Asphodel Meadows offers. Could this be a new game experience I'm being provided? Becoming an alpha or beta tester for fresh game experiences is honorary in Elysium. There's no way they sent me, a low-level player, an invitation. A mistake probably. Pfff, today it's full of glitches and hitches, I guess.

I open the message. The only thing embedded in the message is a button that reads PLAY GAME. No sender, no body message, no nothing. Is that how game invitations for alpha testers work? I don't know, it's the first time I'm offered something like this. I heard that alpha and beta testers are granted extra processing unit coins, plus have the benefit to keep their earned levels there once the game launches. This means I'll be ahead of all others when they distribute it. What can I say, I'm probably lucky. Here goes nothing.

I hit the PLAY GAME button and a notification appears.

Choose Gender: Male or Female.

I'll stick with male for now. There's always the option to choose from a variety of genders. I wonder again momentarily if Smeme is actually a man or a woman. Still, Smeme has that big brother aura about him, so probably male.

Anyway, next step and I have to choose Race. There aren't many choices here, probably that's because the game is in an alpha state. Most of the ones I want are grayed out. I choose Human.

The progress bar takes me to the third step. Choose Class. This one's easy for me to choose. Being a sorcerer is my favorite class.

And now I have to set the Difficulty. There are three levels: Casual, Expert, and Hardcore. I'll go with Hardcore. It'll help me level up faster and in case something funny happens, I can always respawn. If this is the Real World I doubt the difficulty is going to change much.

Nothing happens, and I wonder if maybe the game is already glitching... or worse, maybe something broke. Unlikely, things in Elysium rarely break. Still, I'll leave it as is.

"Your journey begins," a soft, deep voice echoes in my mind.

The surrounding lights dim and suddenly there is a flash. I feel the hair on my new body taking shape. I have chills as I'm transferred before a burning river, so bright I have to squint my eyes as they adjust to the sight of the red flames.

Wow, that's a hell of an intro for a game. Look at how realistic it is. I can even feel the heat, not to mention I've never felt anything so burning hot in the past. I activate my Insight skill and a tooltip appears above the burning stream of magma.

Tooltip: Cocytus, the Burning River.

The tooltip dismisses automatically and I'm unable to move. A new notification message appears before me.

Main Mission: Fall inside Cocytus.

"What?" I shout, but there's no one here to listen.

As if charmed by the searing flames, I march towards the blazing inferno and there's nothing I can do. I can't control my avatar anymore. The system has taken control over it. I can't stop walking towards my doom and I'm worried as hell right now, because the fire burns my skin and my lungs. It is oven hot, I'm sure there's no way my avatar will survive this. Damn, I'll suffer another level loss once I respawn. What were the developers thinking when creating this game? There's no way I would recommend this to Smeme or anyone else, period.

Then, I fall into the streaming lava of Cocytus.

What's this intense pain?

I command my avatar to decrease the pain level, instead, the pain increases in waves and never leaves a hope of an end. The flames rob my ability to speak, my mind is waling, and it burns my eyes.

Fucking developers! I'll make sure I leave a one-star rating when I log out of this hellhole.

Suddenly, the pain stops and I feel a cool breeze. My eyes are perfectly fine but I'm surrounded by darkness.

A soft voice echoes inside my head. Hades Neural Control Interface activated: Gender: Male, Class: Sorcerer, Difficulty: Hardcore, Threat Level: 1. Welcome to the Real World Athanasios. Your journey begins as of this moment.

Real world? Level 1? What's this nonsense? I should be level 7 as in Elysium. Probably another bug. Not my lucky day, I should have guessed better. But where am I right now? I try to get up but it's hard, almost impossible to move this new avatar of mine. I feel heavy, like I weigh a hundred pounds. Back home I was light as a feather. I could glide. Isn't there a calibration mechanism for this shit? Ok, I'm bored already, how do I log out? Where's the exit button?

I search my Neural Control Interface for a couple of seconds for the exit button, but it seems impossible to find it. Scrolling through all the highlighted junk, reds, and blues and lore I'm not interested in looking at. All the information seems to be color-coded. A logout button should be easy to see. A few warnings appear here and there. Click, click. I'm already done with this, so there is no point in reading any further. They keep popping up; I feel like I'm being spammed. This entire game feels like a massive prank. Maybe someone had been listening in on my complaints with Smeme. Maybe this was Smeme trying to pay me back for complaining so much. I'm sure there is some kind of moral lesson to be learned here. Don't care.

"Damnit, I just want to go home and work on my dungeon," I say out loud.

There's no exit button! I'm stuck. Trapped in what was this game even called? Special game experience my ass. This is the worst bug I've encountered in a game experience ever. I can feel my hands shaking. This isn't right. I live in the Meadows, I'm not supposed to feel this… this fear.

"Logout," I yell.

Voice commands can override controls sometimes. Helps if you are being tied up or lost a limb. Nothing happens.

"Smeme, Leda? This isn't funny!"

No one answers. I want to scream. I start to panic. My heart races again as fear courses over me. I try again and again until finally I decide to try a different approach. I close everything out until only one message remains. The same one from before. I stare at it trying to let it sink in.

Welcome to the Real World Athanasios.

Come on, you gotta be kidding me!