Noah slid the headset on, and the real world faded. Here, in Eden, he was unstoppable—a warrior, an adventurer, a god. The colors were richer, the air crisper, and pain was just a setting in the menu. He told himself he’d log out soon. Just one more quest. One more level.

Days blurred. Then weeks. He wasn’t sure anymore. The real world—his dull apartment, the stack of unpaid bills, the loneliness—felt like a dream compared to this.

But then, something changed.

When he tried to log out, the option was gone. The menu flickered. "Exit Unavailable." He laughed at first. A glitch, maybe. He’d seen them before. But then, he felt it—the hunger, the exhaustion. Real sensations. The NPCs seemed different, their eyes almost... knowing.

A woman in a crimson cloak approached him. "You don’t belong here," she whispered.

His chest tightened. "I— I need to leave."

She only smiled. "Then wake up."

Noah reached for the headset, but there was nothing on his face. Just his own hands, trembling.

Somewhere, in a world he could no longer see, his body sat motionless, waiting.