As the call rang, Jack felt more nervous than he had earlier that day when he first spoke to her. He wasn’t sure why. If anything, this should’ve been easier. Holly had asked him to call.

  She picked up almost instantly.

  Her face appeared on his interface, bright-eyed and smiling. “Oh, hey! I was waiting for your call. How did it go with everyone?”

  Seeing her like this—genuinely interested—sent a flutter through his chest.

  “Good, actually,” Jack said. “They’re all on board. Even my cousin took it better than I expected.”

  “I’m glad,” she said warmly.

  Jack hesitated, then added, “Thank you again. For everything. Your help… your support… it means a lot.”

  A faint blush colored her cheeks, and she looked away for a moment. “It’s okay. I was happy to help.” Her gaze flicked back to the screen. “Wait a moment. That doesn’t look like Ashengate.”

  Jack glanced around. “Oh. Yeah. I had to come to Bright Hill. I’m about to start my class advancement quest.”

  Holly blinked. “Bright Hill? I think I saw it in one of Amari’s videos. That’s… the village where you started, right?”

  “Yeah, that’s the one.” He paused. “Anyway, is now still a good time to talk about the pot bots?”

  “Sure, yeah,” she said quickly.

  Jack nodded. “So, I was thinking… each bot has four separate pin barrels, and I’m having trouble getting them to complete complex instructions.”

  He kept talking, but Holly wasn’t really looking at him anymore.

  Her eyes had drifted off-screen. Her smile was still there, but thinner now. Her fingers moved subtly—she seemed to be typing.

  “I was wondering whether I should make the barrels wider to add more lines of programming, or longer to give them more bits. But I’m not sure if the system would even accept that.”

  “Mmhmm…”

  “What do you think, Holly?”

  “I’m sorry. What?”

  Why was she distracted? Was she studying again? Messaging someone? Her boyfriend, maybe? Did she have one?

  Before he could ask, she straightened in her seat. “Jack—sorry. I’ve gotta go.” Her tone had shifted, brisk and clipped. “Talk later, okay?”

  The call cut off before he could say anything else.

  Jack stared at the empty interface, a hollow feeling settling in his chest.

  What was that?

  He had thought they were getting closer. That their last conversation meant something. That she’d been eager to talk about the pot bots. She’d been so nice at the start of the call, but then suddenly, she’d just… cut out like she was in a hurry to get away.

  Did I say something wrong?

  He replayed the conversation in his head a few times, combing for anything that might sound forward, creepy, or offensive, but couldn’t find anything.

  The heat in his cheeks faded, replaced with a chilling cold.

  He opened the text interface and started to write a message.

  Hey, Holly. It might be my impression, but you seemed turned off by something I said. Did I do something wrong?

  He stared at the screen for a moment, then sighed and deleted the message.

  “Get it together, Jack…” he said, slapping himself with both his palms.

  His friends were currently running around in order to help him get the money to pay for his dad’s treatment. His parents were counting on him. He had to push his feelings aside.

  He forced himself to stand up. To shake it off.

  A tree stood nearby. He walked over and raised his wooden sword, then smacked the trunk a few times—hard.

  The strikes landed with sharp cracks, jolting up his arms. He didn’t stop.

  From the outside, it probably looked like he was testing his weapon. But inside, it was something else entirely. A release. A scream he couldn’t voice. A punch he couldn’t throw.

  He kept going—harder, faster—until his breath was coming quick and his shirt clung to his back with sweat.

  The pressure of everything— the clock ticking, his dad’s treatment, and now Holly's weird reaction—boiled up and poured out through every swing.

  When he finally lowered the sword, his arms ached, but the storm inside had quieted.

  He looked down from the hill to the crowd around Kevin’s hut. He still had to find a way to get in there.

  He opened his recipes and found the perfect one for the job.

  Racing down, he headed toward the nearest market. As he did, he tried not to think of Holly and how she might not like him as much as he liked her.

  *

  José glanced around, uneasy. First, that bossy helmet had made him wave his arms and do all sorts of ridiculous moves. He’d nearly given up on the whole idea right then and there. But eventually, the game loaded… and now he was standing in an endless white void.

  He flexed his hands, slowly curling and uncurling his fingers. Despite the weirdness of it all, he had to admit: this was an impressive piece of technology.

  “Welcome to New Earth!” said a deep, male voice.

  Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

  José flinched and spun around, looking for the source—but no one was there.

  A moment later, letters shimmered into view above him.

  Choose your avatar’s name.

  “Avatar? What’s that supposed to mean?” he muttered. “Like… a nickname?”

  He scratched his head. “This is like… my digital version, I guess. My character.”

  He tapped his foot, thinking. “José,” he said aloud, a little hesitant.

  Error: Name already taken.

  “Of course it is,” he grumbled. “There’s like a million Josés out there.”

  He stood there for a moment, arms crossed, trying to think of something that didn’t feel ridiculous.

  He cleared his throat and said, “JoséFixesItAll.” His company’s name.

  Are you sure you want to be called JoséFixesItAll? [Y/N]

  “Yes.”

  The letters faded.

  Oof. Not so hard after all, he thought, a little proud.

  Please select your appearance.

  A floating, rotating hologram of himself appeared in front of him, surrounded by a series of menus and glowing options. The avatar sort of looked like him—but not quite. A bit shorter, a bit thinner. And worst of all, the moustache was gone.

  “Urgh. That’s terrible. Can’t I just make him look like my usual self?”

  He muttered to himself as he clicked and dragged sliders through the settings. Slowly, the avatar began to resemble him more closely. He restored his moustache, tanned his skin, adjusted his build and height, and reshaped the face until it looked right.

  Finally, he had a virtual copy of himself.

  “That’s more like it.”

  But then he saw the top of his head.

  José pursed his lips.

  Maybe it wouldn’t hurt to tweak it… just a little.

  He gave himself a full head of hair, just like he’d had in his youth. Then, after a pause, he stripped the grays from his moustache and hair, turning everything a rich, dark brown.

  Finally—hesitating for only a moment—he shaved off a few pounds and added a couple of inches of height.

  Seeing the improved version of himself, he suddenly wanted to show Maria. She would have so much fun tweaking his appearance together with him.

  He pressed Finish, and the hologram collapsed.

  A deep, theatrical voice rang out:

  “In a world of old, men ruled over the land.”

  The blinding white vanished. José suddenly found himself soaring high above the ground, the wind rushing past.

  Below, the land was a sprawling canvas of divided farmlands in shades of green and gold, crisscrossed with irrigation canals and roads. Tiny figures moved out and about: farmers tending crops, caravans on the roads, animals in fields.

  The camera dipped low, gliding over lush river valleys dotted with vineyards and mills, before rising again to sweep past cities perched on cliffs and high plateaus. He saw bridges stretching across vast canyons, and lighthouses on jagged coastlines. There were settlements built in deserts, nestled deep within snowy forests, and even one on stilts rising from a marsh.

  “Mankind built great cities. In the farthest valley, the tallest mountain, the most remote island…”

  Each line of narration was paired with a new spectacle. A mountaintop fortress nestled above the clouds. A chain of floating isles with suspended bridges.

  José’s brow lifted. Is this a historical game?

  He leaned forward slightly as the tour continued. He’d never cared for fantasy games with monsters and imaginary creatures and all that. But this? This seemed to be based on ancient history.

  Maybe this game isn’t so terrible after all.

  The camera stopped above a proud sprawl of towers, domes, and terraced gardens. The sea glittered beside it. The people below bustled with life, and José could even hear faint sounds of chatter, the ring of hammers, and the cries of merchants.

  “But one day, it all changed. There was a great earthquake!”

  Without warning, the ground lurched. Streets split open. Towers tilted and fell. Screams rose up as citizens ran for cover. Entire blocks vanished into sinkholes.

  “And fires swept through the ruins!”

  Flames erupted across the city. Smoke coiled into the sky.

  The sea, peaceful just moments ago, suddenly pulled back.

  “And then came the tsunamis.”

  The harbor vanished in an instant. Ships were tossed like toys. Water surged through the city’s lower quarters, obliterating what hadn’t already collapsed or burned. It kept climbing inland for miles.

  “Famine struck. And disease.”

  The survivors who crawled from the wreckage began coughing. Flies buzzed. Rats scurried.

  Oh my goodness. These poor people!

  There was a rumble inland. A mountain erupted in a sudden, blinding flash. Neon orange lights burst skyward.

  Then one more exploded farther west. And another—this one beneath the sea—heaved open with a hiss, boiling the ocean into clouds of steam.

  “All over the planet, volcanoes became active.”

  Citizens pointed dazedly toward the glowing mountains, many limping or wrapped in bandages.

  The sky had gone black. Lightning flashed inside roiling clouds. The camera slowly zoomed out, showing the ruined cities, the smoking mountains, the flooded coastlines. No place was left untouched. Ash began to fall from the sky, soft at first, then thicker—covering ruins, roads, and fields.

  “And when the darkness ended, the world had changed. Something in the earthquake had stirred an ancient world that had slumbered beneath mankind’s dominion for eons… and now, it wanted out.”

  There were screams.

  From the forest, massive creatures emerged—towering lizards with rows of jagged teeth, long tails, and thunderous roars.

  José squinted. “Are those dinosaurs?”

  A spined, crocodile-like creature lunged from the ocean and dragged a ship under. A pterosaur swooped down and scattered fleeing refugees. A T-Rex tore through a camp.

  Seeing the dinosaurs, José groaned. “A fantasy game. Argh.”

  For a moment there, he’d almost thought that this game was a little more realistic. But they’d gone with a far-fetched tale to bring dinosaurs and people together in the same era.

  “Humanity wasn’t prepared. Not for the disasters. Not for the beasts. But one young king rose.”

  José perked up slightly.

  “With what remained of his army, he journeyed from ruined city to ruined city, gathering survivors. He united them—not as citizens of broken nations, but as survivors. He brought them to the city of Ernia.”

  José’s view shifted again. In a flash, he now stood high above a broad plain.

  Below him was a white city—partially collapsed, cracked in many places, but still standing. Its walls were scorched, its towers shattered. But people streamed in from all directions: refugees in long lines, dragging carts, carrying children, helping the wounded. Builders were already at work, patching walls, raising scaffolding.

  Not far from the city, armored knights and squads of soldiers clashed in two separate skirmishes with dinosaurs.

  “In time, Ernia became Eternia, the last city. When it grew too full, the king gave a fateful order: to build a wall—a wall so great, no beast could ever breach it.”

  The camera followed as stones the size of carriages were rolled on thick logs by teams of sweating workers. Engineers barked orders. Soldiers stood watch, keeping an eye on the distant tree line. The first section rose at the plain’s edge—a long way from the city itself.

  Then the vision fast-forwarded—time sped up, and in flickering cuts, the wall rose higher and longer, until it surrounded the plains.

  José huffed. “Yeah. Right.”

  He crossed his arms. The whole idea of building a giant wall this far out was foolish. Why not start a second city? Then maybe a third. Then connect them with walls. That’s just common sense.

  This game's setting was only getting worse and worse.

  “Two centuries have passed since that momentous day. Whatever cities once lay outside the Twin Rings… died off. But within, the warriors and artisans of Eternia and the Twin Rings rebuilt.”

  Armored figures practiced swordplay in courtyards. Engineers oversaw forges and assembly lines. Craftspeople carved and hammered.

  “Now, the strength of the Twin Rings grows. Their eyes turn outward—to reclaim what was lost.”

  The music swelled.

  “Go, adventurer! Fight the beasts! Reclaim what is ours!”

  In the blink of an eye, José was back on solid ground.

  He now stood on a gentle green hill, and soft grass brushed against his ankles. A breeze rustled the leaves of a single old tree nearby. An elderly man stood beneath the tree, surrounded by a crowd of people. They all wore the same clothes: gray shirts and pants. Looking down, he noticed he was dressed the same.

  A soft chime rang out as a new player shimmered into existence nearby, looking just as confused as José felt.

  The hill overlooked a wide plain, and in the distance, the tall white wall loomed.

  He moved his fingers slowly, then his arms. Took a careful step, then another. The sensation was strange—not like walking in the real world, but not completely fake either. His knees didn’t hurt. His back didn’t pinch.

  More importantly, his chest didn’t ache. He breathed deep—no pain.

  He put his hand over his heart and squeezed. “It’s been a while since I felt no pain. I could get used to this.”