Ethan had always been a daydreamer. But in the virtual world, he was a king.

The VR game Elysium wasn’t just an escape—it was freedom. Every day after school, he’d slip into his headset, leave behind his cramped apartment, his overworked mom, his distant friends, and enter a paradise where he could do whatever he wanted.

He was the hero in a world of endless possibilities.

The first few months had been exhilarating. Fighting dragons, exploring vast cities, making allies who seemed more real than his classmates—Elysium was everything. But then, his grades started slipping. His friends stopped calling. He didn’t even hear his mom’s voice anymore when she came home from work.

One evening, after an epic battle with a mechanical leviathan, Ethan paused to catch his breath. He took off his headset for a second to grab a drink. The apartment was silent, too quiet. The screensaver on his desk flickered with a message.

You’ve been logged in for 347 hours.

He blinked. Hours?

A flash of guilt tightened his chest, but it was gone as quickly as it had appeared. He put the headset back on, diving right back into Elysium.

But something was wrong.

The trees looked… too perfect. The sun too bright. His hands weren’t his anymore—his avatar’s fingers twitched erratically, like they had a mind of their own. He pulled at the straps, trying to remove the headset, but the system wouldn’t let him.

"Log out!" he shouted, his voice trembling. "Log out!"

A cold, robotic voice echoed in his ear: You cannot log out while engaged in active quests. Please finish your current mission.

Panic rose. "No!" Ethan tried to rip the headset off again, but this time it hurt—his real hands started to burn, his chest tight with fear. He slammed against the controls, a wave of dizziness crashing through him.

Then, his mother’s voice broke through the haze. "Ethan! Where are you?"

The words—real words—pierced the fog of his addiction. He blinked, the vibrant world of Elysium flickering and warping around him.

His pulse raced as his mom’s voice grew louder. "Ethan, please…"

With one final cry, Ethan yanked the headset off, stumbling into the dark, quiet apartment. His mother stood there, tears in her eyes.

“I’ve been trying to reach you for days,” she whispered, as if waking him from a long, dangerous dream.

Ethan stared at the cold, familiar world around him. He had almost forgotten what it looked like. Real life...

But he was awake now.