The screams of battle filled the air. Explosions echoed across the valley, shaking the ground and sending pixelated debris flying in all directions. Clad in shimmering obsidian armor, Erik Renshaw—known in the game as “Sovereign” to his guildmates—surveyed the carnage from atop a ridge.

  His guild, Black Vanguard, was locked in a siege against a rival group, and the victory was all but assured. His sword, Eclipse Blade, hummed with stored energy, a weapon only obtained by the most elite players of Endworld Online. With his usual grin, he tightened his gauntlet-clad fingers around the hilt and leapt from his perch into the fray below.

  This was where Erik thrived. At 32 years old, he had spent more than half his life chasing the cutting edge of VR gaming. Endworld Online was the apex, the game that made every other VR title look like child’s play. It was a second world for Erik—a place where he could be more than the ex-soldier with PTSD that haunted his waking life. Here, he was Sovereign, leader of legends.

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  But tonight, something was off.

  As Erik carved his way through enemy forces with surgical precision, the battlefield glitched. It started with the usual flickers—a stuttering character here, a texture popping there. Then, in the corner of his HUD, a strange symbol appeared: [?λ-G].

  Erik froze. That wasn’t part of the game.

  Before he could process what was happening, the battlefield around him shifted. The terrain dissolved, replaced with a stark void that stretched endlessly in all directions. The cries of his comrades disappeared, replaced by a deafening silence. And then came the sound—a high-pitched whine, like static merging with a digital scream.

  “System error,” a voice whispered into his ear, calm and robotic.

  Erik reached out, his hands trembling. His body felt heavy, sluggish. He tried to speak, but his voice didn’t work. The static grew louder, the symbol in his HUD flashing rapidly now. [?λ-G]… [?λ-G]… [?λ-G]…

  And then, he died.

  Not just in the game. Erik felt the life drain from him, the darkness swallowing him whole. A sharp pain in his chest followed by a numbing cold. As his consciousness faded, one thought rang in his mind:

  This isn’t how it’s supposed to end.