Chapter Thirty-Eight: Behind the Neon Curtain

  Jason

  System Initializing...

  Taking a deep breath, Jason closed his eyes and allowed the familiar tingling sensation to wash over him as his mind connected to Terra Mythica. Dark pixels swirled around him, enveloping his senses in a digital embrace, while a stream of text scrolled across his vision, welcoming him back. The System had accepted him before, calibrated to his DNA, and he tried not to worry.

  While the login process went through its many steps, Jason thought over the past day outside of Terra Mythica—a break that felt both too short and infinitely long.

  Analyzing DNA...

  Memories of his visit with his brother played through his mind. Navigating the rundown city streets, drenched in rain and bathed in neon glow, he had headed to the hospital. The wet pavement mirrored the city’s flickering holographic advertisements and towering skyscrapers, creating a grim but mesmerizing dance of lights. Many buildings were nothing more than hollowed-out shells, remnants of a lost civilization, now repurposed for flashing ads. “Eat Wheat-Nibbles and Feel Alive Again,” a holographic woman crooned seductively, her lips curving into a smile as she savored a spoonful with exaggerated delight.

  In the hospital room, Jason sat by his brother’s bedside, his heart heavy with unspoken words. “Hey, remember when we used to play those old video games together down at that rundown Hub? You always beat me at everything,” Jason chuckled softly, the sound tinged with melancholy. “I miss that. I miss you. I promise I’ll make this right, somehow.”

  The rain tapped a somber rhythm against the window, each drop a silent witness to Jason’s vow. “Bro, I know I don’t deserve anything, but if you can hear me... I could really use some advice right now.” He squeezed his brother’s hand, a silent plea for forgiveness and a promise of redemption. The neon lights outside flickered, casting an eerie glow over the room, as if the city itself mourned alongside him.

  An insistent, elusive worry festered within him. Alex lay there in his stasis pod, unchanged and eerily still, as if time itself had stopped for him. For Jason, immersed in Mythica, it felt like days, even weeks, had slipped away, while in reality, only hours had ticked by.

  Jason had inquired if the Device could bring Alex into the game. The doctor, shaking his head, explained that Alex’s brain function was too diminished. The connection required a surge of neural activity, something Alex couldn’t produce. Attempting it could be perilous, with incomplete functions leading to unforeseen consequences.

  As Jason listened, the city weighed heavily on his mind. The relentless rain, the flickering neon lights, and the high-pitched, mechanical sounds all merged into a haunting symphony. He looked at Alex one last time before leaving, the world outside feeling both too real and too distant.

  Synching...

  Jason had thought about seeking out Dex, Ell, Alice, and Thistle in the real world, but he had no idea where to begin, and it felt intrusive to even try.

  Finding Thistle or Alice would be near impossible, and even if he did, revealing too much could be dangerous. Using his brother’s device to sneak into the game was already illegal, but if they discovered his true identity, it could put them both in danger.

  Jason had stopped in at the local Hub on the way back to the bar. The Hub was a dimly lit dive, filled with outdated consoles for connecting to the Grid. Cheap and grimy, it offered brief escapes for a few credits. He watched casually and waited, and when someone got up to leave, he slid in right after them, hoping no one noticed. They hadn’t finished logging out, and he quickly canceled the logout countdown.

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  As soon as he connected, he was bombarded by ads and images of a fake street, a hollow mimicry of immersion. Everything was barely real—pixelated storefronts, flickering streetlights, and ghostly avatars of users. The neon lights seemed to bleed into the wet asphalt, creating a surreal, dreamlike quality.

  Navigating the virtual world, Jason quickly found the mail room and logged in using his credentials. Neon lines traced his path, pulsating with an old, familiar rhythm. He scanned the inbox—just spam. Then he froze. A picture of a man who looked startlingly like Dex stared back at him. Terry Bishop. Dex’s real name was Dexter Bishop.

  Jason opened the message, and a holo headline burst to life, projecting images of Dex and his father at an award ceremony. The sharp contrast of the holo images showed them with smiles that didn’t reach their eyes, the colors almost too vibrant, too intense, like a digital daydream. Jason owed a lot to Dex’s father for inventing the Stasis Chamber.

  The Stasis Chamber, with its sleek, silver contours, wasn’t just a vessel for full-time immersion into Terra Mythica, where people like Theon found escape without ever logging out. For Jason, it was a lifeline. It allowed him to remain by his brother’s hospital bed, feeling the faint warmth of his hand and listening to the rhythmic hum of medical machinery, affording him the precious time he desperately needed to find a way to save Alex.

  Jason checked his credit account—painfully low.

  Synchronization Successful

  Jason smiled, relieved by the smooth login process. He hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath, fearing the System might boot him or catch on this time. A silly concern, he decided.

  He quickly checked his accounts before heading back to the bar. Still not even a dent in what he needed for Alex. But that would all change soon. Jason had some ideas…

  Compatibility 99.845%.

  Margin for Error Acceptable — Initiating Prismata Protocol.

  His muscles locked, his breath catching in his throat. Is this just part of the sensation? His vision flickered between the real world, a darkened room, and faint images of Terra Mythica, all in a disorienting strobe of lights and pictures.

  An excruciating pain shot through him, starting at his brain and radiating to his fingertips. The world spun wildly. Desperately, he tried to remove the Device from his head. He felt his hands move, felt the cold metal of the Device. But as he reached for it, his fingers recoiled. Or were they... melting?

  His body convulsed, every nerve ending aflame as if a thousand nuclear bombs were detonating inside his mind, sending shockwaves of agony to every corner of his being. He screamed, the sound tearing from his throat, a raw expression of unbearable pain.

  Subject Resisting Transference Protocol.

  Increasing calibration processing power to compensate.

  Jason’s stomach dropped, then lurched, the world stopping before crashing into motion again.

  Transference In Progress. 60% of 100%

  A progress bar inched forward, now reaching 65%. What is Transference? Unintelligible symbols flashed rapidly across his vision, a torrent of alien script. The searing pain made it impossible to focus, let alone decipher the chaotic stream of information.

  Error…

  “Logout! Stop!”

  He screamed in his mind, molten oil spread through his veins.

  And then, the bar reached 99%…. 100%.

  And then the pain vanished, the world disappeared, and everything plunged into darkness—a profound silence following the storm.

  Transference Successful

  Welcome Traveler

  The screen arrived with a gentle chime.

  The transition back to his dorm room hit Jace like a physical blow, leaving his senses reeling. The familiar surroundings, now infused with a strange, otherworldly clarity, felt both sharp and mundane. He marveled at his own body, each muscle sore and every nerve on edge, as if inhabiting a foreign shell.

  The room, though achingly familiar, now seemed almost surreal. Naked and exposed, he quickly scanned the space, feeling a heightened sense of vulnerability. He closed his eyes, and the options in his menus flickered to life, vivid and clear as if extensions of his very mind. With a thought, he summoned his inventory, the items within it becoming tangible presences in his consciousness.

  He willed his attire into existence, the dark robe and Hades Society outfit materializing around him. The fabric seemed to weave itself from the shadows, enveloping him in a flowing black robe adorned with intricate silver embroidery. A fitted tunic and pants completed the ensemble, exuding an aura of solemn elegance. On his chest, the emblem of a silver raven wreathed in shadows gleamed brightly.

  As he walked down the path and ascended the stairs, a flicker of movement in the darkness caught his eye—a shadowy figure lurking just beyond the edge of the light. He smiled as he quickly spun around.