Darian’s eyes snapped open to an endless white void.
Space seemed to extend infinitely in all directions, and he felt a rush of confusion, panic, and existential dread surge within him.
“Uh… hello?” He called out, feeling like an idiot, until a prompt abruptly filled the air before him and elicited a sigh of relief.
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Welcome, Traveler, to Eternus Online!
Eternus Online is the latest, and most cutting edge experience. It is advised that every Traveler approach Eternus Online as if it were another world, in order to both maximize enjoyment and to fully understand the complexity of the living world.
Permanent death is very rare in Eternus Online, but is not impossible. If you are permanently killed, an option to reactualize within the world will be granted for free the first time, and then once every 12 months thereafter.
You are limited to one actualization at a time, without exception.
Eternus Online operates with time dilation, meaning 4 hours will pass for every 1 hour on Earth. This equates to one in-game day for every 6 hours on Earth.
Time dilation is an experimental feature, and all users must consent to medical monitoring to avoid any unforeseen complications, the terms and extent of which are included in the Eternus Online EULA.
Would you like to view the Eternus Online End User License Agreement (EULA)?
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YES
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NO
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Darian hesitated, and then shook his head and selected no. Alfred had already been asked to review the EULA when he’d looked into the game, and the AI had raised no concerns when questioned earlier. If Alfred saw no reason to worry, especially given his programming to protect the lives of the household, then Darian saw no reason to bother with the minutiae.
He’d already known about the dilation technology as well, and that was part of what had made him so excited for the game in the first place.
The dilation could be roughly calculated to 91 real-life days per year in Eternus Online. With the average human lifespan nearing one hundred and fifty years, thanks to modern science, that meant that if someone played Eternus Online for four years, one year would pass on Earth.
The fact that the average human could then enjoy an extra forty years of existence for the price of a decade was an incredible breakthrough in modern technology, and something that even ten years prior had seemed beyond the scope of possibility.
“So, what now?” Darian asked into the empty air, only for another prompt to fill his vision.
Well, at least he knew how to get things moving.
He had to prompt it verbally.
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By waiving the viewing of the EULA, your consent to its contents has been assumed. If you wish to view the EULA at any time, please access the [Help] option in your in-game menu.
Now it is time to create your actualization!
This manifestation, colloquially known as your ‘Eidos,’ will be your living self within Eternus Online for the duration of your journey, unless you are permanently killed.
Once you begin the actualization process, it is extremely important that you do not log out or disconnect.
Please ensure you are in a position to commit at least 2 Hours of Earth Time to this process.
Are you ready to begin?
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YES
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NO
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Darian selected ‘YES’ without hesitation and glanced around as the window disappeared. A few moments of silence passed as he considered whether or not another verbal prompt was required, and then he opened his mouth to speak.
Just as he was forming the words, however, he was interrupted by a flash of light and the appearance of a new figure within the endless white.
The new arrival was a female, standing around 5’5” with blonde hair in a corporate-chic haircut. She wore a formal white blouse and a simple black pencil skirt. Below her skirt, matching black stockings and cream heels completed the look.
“Hello!” she said with a winning smile while wiggling her manicured nails in greeting. “I’m Ada, your actualization assistant. I’ve been sent by the System to help with the construction of your Eidos within the world of Eternus!”
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“Uh… hello!” Darian said uncertainly, blinking at the bubbly tidal wave of personality before him. “So you’re here to help me make my character?”
“Your Eidos,” Ada corrected with a grin and a wink. “You Travelers sure do use weird terms.”
Darian’s brow furrowed for a moment as he took in the blonde, before he decided to dismiss the momentary confusion. Was it really surprising that a game as ambitious as Eternus would have dynamic character creation wrapped into an immersive experience?
In a way, he’d already started playing the game.
“Right. So… how do we do this?” he asked instead of answering her statement.
“It’s simple, really!” Ada replied cheerfully. “I’ll go ahead and create a simulacrum for you to interact with. When you’re happy with the look and feel of the example, I’ll confirm the Eidos design with the System, and your mind and soul will be tethered to your body within Eternus!”
Darian nodded along as she spoke.
The gist of it was simple enough, and he saw no reason to ask for elaboration or hesitate in proceeding. It all seemed relatively straightforward.
“Okay,” he said with a smile and a resurgence of excitement, “ready when you are, Ada.”
“Excellent!” Ada chirruped in approval. “Here we go!”
A sudden flash of light caused Darian to wince, and when he refocused his gaze, he found himself staring at what appeared to be a replication of himself.
This rendition, however, was inert; arms at its sides and gray eyes staring vacantly ahead. Its blond hair was cut with a fade just like his, and it even sported the small crescent scar on its chin that he’d acquired as a toddler.
It was also, he noticed, completely naked.
“Whoa…” he said with a low whistle as he looked it over with a mix of awe, surprise, and mild embarrassment.
“This is your simulacrum! You are allowed, per the rules of Eternus, to alter yourself within a thirty-percent margin of difference,” Ada said brightly, “in order to maximize synergy between your consciousness and your Eidos. For any changes you want to make, simply focus on the simulacrum and visualize the alterations in your mind. When you’re satisfied with your choices, just say you’re finished and I’ll take it from there!”
Darian hummed and braced his hands on his hips, eyeing the construct thoughtfully. “Any changes I want?”
“Well, you can’t grow horns or add wings or anything,” Ada said with a laugh. “But height, weight, muscle, limbs, hair, face, eyes… Even your genitalia!”
Darian blushed visibly at that and laughed nervously. “That’s, uh, detailed.”
Ada smiled slyly back at him, and she seemed to be waiting for him to act.
Drawing in a breath, he shrugged and decided to dive in.
The first thing he did was change his hair and eyes, altering the first to be down to the middle of his shoulders and adding a deeper shade to the gold. After a moment of consideration, his eyes were tweaked and brightened to a more striking silver-gray, and then he went about modifying his muscle mass.
Darian had played football in high school, but he’d let his figure go in the five years since he graduated, which he still regretted. He tightened up the looseness on his belly and brought three neat pairs of abdominal muscles back into definition. His arms and legs received the same treatment, and were enhanced and sharpened back up to what he’d possessed prior to his loss of muscle mass.
Thankfully, he’d managed to retain his general size, even if the definition had faded. The changes, therefore, were readily accepted.
He was already reasonably tall at 6’3”, but he decided to crank that just a little more, and pushed himself up to 6’5” before slightly squaring and sharpening the structure of his jawline. He noticed his body seemed to increase proportionally in density and overall size with his modifications, which helpfully saved him the trouble of having to adjust anything to fit the new height.
His eyes glanced down at his groin, and he only considered it for a moment before he snorted and shook his head. Above average was fine; he didn’t need something ludicrous.
Darian’s eyes flickered over his simulacrum, he paused to tweak away the majority of his body hair below the chin—he’d always hated having any—and then nodded in final satisfaction before turning back to Ada.
“I guess I’m done,” he said with an idle wave at the imitation. “I can’t really think of anything else.”
The blonde smiled brightly, looked his simulacrum over, and then nodded to herself. “You’re going to be popular!” she said with a laugh, and then she waved a hand at him. “Your psychological compatibility with the designed Eidos is also well over our baseline, which is great!”
“My psychological compatibility?” Darian repeated with interest.
“Why yes! One of my tasks is to be on the lookout for gender dysphoria or other disconnections from one’s own body. This is a new world, Traveler! You can be whatever your heart desires.”
Darian blinked, then shrugged. That made sense.
“Okay! I’m going to go ahead and begin the soulbinding process, if you’re absolutely sure?”
Darian took a moment to have one last look over himself, and then nodded.
“I’m sure,” he confirmed.
“Great! Here we go!” Ada responded with a dramatic flourish of her hands.
A sudden vortex opened before him a second later, resplendent with a kaleidoscope of every known spectrum of color.
Darian raised his eyebrow at it, and then looked at Ada again, who appeared perfectly unperturbed by the development. Deciding not to worry, he watched as his new body lifted off the ‘ground’ and drifted toward the portal languidly. It was funny in a way, watching his own physical self inertly floating toward a rainbow-colored tear in the fabric of reality.
At least, right up until something seemed to go wrong.
The portal, in the blink of an eye, started to fracture.
Its myriad colors were abruptly shattered, and black lines of menacing power oozed in from the edges of the circle, turning the entire structure into a roiling, vicious obsidian. Darian looked at Ada for answers, only to see her staring at the portal in shock.
The blonde seemed frozen for a minute, then abruptly spun back to face Darian. “What did you do?!”
He pointed at himself reflexively in question, and then stared at her for a moment.
“Me?” he asked in a tone of bewilderment. “I didn’t do anything! This is your show!”
His new body was greedily sucked into the black abyss, and Darian found himself watching it go with a mix of bafflement and mild trepidation. Concern began to replace bemusement, and he felt his heart rate spike.
“What’s going on?” he asked in follow-up. “Is there an error with the—?”
“Oh, this is very wrong, very wrong. I am going to be in so much—what did you do, Traveler?!”
Darian panicked as Ada turned to him, her expression horrified. At the same moment, he felt his feet leave the proverbial ground.
“Uh? Hello? Do we need an Administrator or something? What is—?”
The blonde made as if to grab him instead of answering, and a bolt of crimson lightning struck out to swat away her hand. Ada yelped at the strike and turned back to the portal, which was already beginning to greedily draw Darian—who was flailing in the air helplessly—toward its void-like depths.
“Ada!” he said as much with anger as with rising fear. “What the hell is going on?!”
“I have to report this…” Ada said while ignoring his question, looking between him and the portal. “This isn’t supposed to happen. She isn’t meant to be able to—ugh! Just my rotten luck.” The blonde turned to him fully and jabbed her smoking right hand at him angrily. “You’ll regret this day, Traveler! You’ve just made some very powerful enemies.”
“What the hell are you talking about?!”
Darian’s demands for answers were in vain as Ada spared him a final glare, and then she vanished in a flash of golden-white light.
Abandoned in full-blown panic mode, he turned back to the looming darkness of the portal and attempted to turn and freestyle the air to ‘swim’ away.
Naturally, it had no effect.
“This is bullshit, this is bullshit, this is bull—HEY! SYSTEM! I WANT AN ADMINISTRATOR! I WANT AN ADMIN—!”
Darian’s words cut off as he was pulled into the portal, and his awareness was replaced by impenetrable walls of void-black darkness.