Six weeks had passed since the lockdown began.
Six weeks since the rules of the world changed.
But inside Aether's Realm, time didn't feel the same.
There, a day could last an eternity.
A nightmare... a lifetime.
A bad decision... a grave.
In Rayushen, the Kingdom of the Shield, flags fluttered in a gentle breeze. From a distance, it looked like a fortress of hope. But inside, the tension could be felt like the weight of a suit of armour that was too tight.
And yet, that morning, something was different.
In the training courtyard, the sound of wood against wood broke the air. Two figures trained, surrounded by soldiers who pretended not to watch them. But they did. Because they hadn't seen Aiko standing up in weeks.
The redhead advanced with uncertain steps, sword in hand. In front of her, Yui patiently corrected her posture. Their movements were not perfect, but they had a sincere rhythm. A promise of something being reborn.
'Don't rush,' said Yui, her voice firm and calm. 'Fear pushes. Will guides. Breathe... and try again.'
Aiko nodded. Sweat trickled down her neck. Her breathing was uneven, but her determination... was non-negotiable.
For the first time in weeks, she didn't feel broken. Just... rebuilding.
From the stands, a figure watched, leaning against the stone wall, arms crossed and a crooked smile on her face: Ayame.
Her clothes were elegant and practical, in light colours, but with discreet embellishments that revealed a refined personality. Her long lilac hair was tied back in a high ponytail, and her confident posture meant that her mere presence attracted attention.
'Well, well...' she murmured with an amused tone. 'Our little Aiko has taken up the sword again? Should I prepare myself for a love triangle?
Aiko stopped, tripping over her own feet in surprise. She turned, blushing.
'What...!?
'Oh, come on,' Ayame calmly descended the stone stairs. 'Don't tell me you don't think about him. That quiet guy who rescued you... carrying you in his arms like a damsel in distress. Very romantic, if you ask me.'
'Ayame! It wasn't like that! He just...!' Aiko looked at Yui, seeking support.
Yui exhaled with her arms crossed.
'Ignore her. She likes to tease when she sees something good.'
Ayame shrugged with a smile. Her tone was still playful, but there was warmth in her eyes. She had seen Aiko cry for nights on end, tremble for hours, whisper the names of dead friends.
Seeing her now, standing there, was reason enough to joke. Because it meant she was alive.
'I'm really glad to see you here, little flame,' she said honestly. 'Your fire still burns.'
Aiko looked down, but smiled slightly.
'It doesn't burn that much... but I want it to. And I want to... find him. That man. To know why he did it.'
'Shiranai,' some call him,' Ayame added. 'The one no one knows. Some say he's a legend. Others believe he's a glitch in the system.
'I just want to know... why he went in,' Aiko murmured. "Why, if he didn't care about anyone... he didn't let me die.
Ayame was silent for a moment.
Then she nodded, her expression not mocking, but sincere. 'Then train. And when you see him... make sure you're the one who can carry him if necessary.'
Aiko laughed softly. And for the first time in weeks, that laugh didn't hurt.
The wooden sword struck Yui's staff with a loud bang, sending a dull vibration through the training ground.
'Again!' Aiko exclaimed, panting. Her arms trembled from the effort, but she didn't back down.
'It's no good attacking without thinking,' Yui replied, twirling his staff fluidly, deflecting the next blow with ease. 'Every movement must have a purpose.'
Aiko took two steps back, her hair sticking to her face with sweat, then charged again. Her attack was fast, but not clean.
Yui blocked it firmly and spun to use the momentum against her, pushing her with her shoulder. Aiko fell backwards, but she didn't give up. She rolled across the ground, got up and attacked again.
The soldiers around them were no longer pretending not to watch. Some even stopped their training. It was rare to see a scene like this. Two girls fighting without reserve, their hearts pounding with every blow.
Aiko screamed, unleashing a diagonal blow. Yui blocked it... but this time, there was something different in Aiko's eyes.
'So what if I fail?!' she shouted. 'So what if I'm not good enough? I want to live with that! I want to keep going!'
Yui didn't respond. She just gritted her teeth and blocked another blow, but Aiko managed to graze her side. It was superficial, but it was a real hit.
Both of them stopped, panting. Sweat ran down their necks. The tension dissolved into the air... and the soldiers burst into applause.
Yui lowered her staff, smiling for the first time in days.
'That's you, Aiko. Not a shadow. A flame.'
'Thank you...' Aiko murmured, her eyes moist.
'Although...' Yui rubbed her side with a grimace, 'that hurt more than I expected.'
'Don't blame me! You taught me to hit hard!'
A deep voice interrupted the laughter.
'Excuse me, ladies. It seems the kingdom has more strength than I thought.'
The soldiers stood at attention instantly. Yui and Aiko did the same. Standing before them, accompanied by two knights, was the King of Rayushen.
An elderly man with short, completely white hair and a well-groomed beard. He wore no crown or cape, only light reinforced leather armour. He was not imposing because of his size, but because of the way he walked: with the look of someone who had survived too many wars.
'I didn't mean to interrupt,' he said calmly. "I just came to see how the new heartbeat of this kingdom is doing.
Yui bowed formally. Aiko imitated her, still nervous.
'My lord,' said Yui, without hesitation. 'Just training. Nothing worth showing yet.'
'Don't be modest,' added a younger voice from the king's side.
A young man appeared from the row of soldiers.
His uniform was immaculate, and his sword bore magical inscriptions that glowed a faint blue. Tall, handsome, with a confident smile that never seemed to fade: Kaien.
'I saw your strike, redhead. Solid. Though slow.' He looked at Aiko with a raised eyebrow. 'But if you train with Yui, I suppose you'll improve. With luck.'
Aiko tensed, but Yui stepped forward.
'Kaien. Are you done showing off in front of your reflection, or do you need a bigger mirror?'
The comment caused a nervous murmur among the soldiers.
Kaien laughed, unperturbed.
'Still as wild as ever. One day that's going to cost you a tooth.'
'When that happens, I hope you're standing with your back to me so I don't have to see it.'
The king did not intervene. He just watched, with an expression that could have been either patience or resignation.
'I won't interrupt any longer. Aiko,' he said, turning to her, 'know that we appreciate your efforts. Many would not have gotten up after that tower. And you... you're doing it.'
Aiko nodded gratefully. The group walked away, and Yui stared at the floor.
'That boy is an idiot...' Aiko muttered.
'Yes. But he's an idiot with power and followers. Stay away from him if you can.'
'It's been six weeks since the lockdown began in Aether's Realm. And although time seems to pass more slowly or more quickly within the game depending on the area, for us the clock is ticking,' announced a reporter in front of a research centre, wrapped up against the drizzle.
The channel had changed its regular programming to broadcast a continuous special on the situation. The broadcasts reached homes, bars and stations throughout Japan and beyond.
'Virtual crisis, real consequences.'
'Five thousand players remain trapped in a system that, officially, should not allow that.'
'There are now 102 confirmed forced disconnections, all with fatal results.'
'Investigations point to a corrupted security protocol... but the developers insist that code was never approved.'
In a café in Akihabara, several young people, some with virtual reality headsets on the table, were watching the broadcast on a screen mounted on the wall.
'Did you hear what that guy from the technical team said? That the game responds to brain stimuli beyond what was anticipated...'
'Yeah. But that doesn't explain why no one can disconnect. What's keeping them there? What does the system read that prevents them from leaving?'
'It's not just a bug,' said a girl, nervously tapping her coffee cup. 'It's almost as if the game... wants them to stay.'
'That's ridiculous.'
'What if it's not?'
At the same table, a young man with an open laptop showed real-time diagrams.
'Look at this. The network routes are closed from the inside. It's as if there's a core executing commands that aren't in the original code.'
'Are you saying there's an AI inside the game?'
'Or something worse. A modification that no one admitted to making. No one outside can access it. And they don't know how it was activated.'
Meanwhile, on an international broadcast, a neuroscience specialist commented:
'The most worrying thing isn't just the physical risk. It's the trauma. Many players can no longer distinguish between the game and reality. Their minds are being shaped by the rules of a world that doesn't follow human logic.'
On social media, the hashtags kept coming:
#AethersRealm
#DisconnectNow
#KingdomOfRayushen
#WhoControlsTheGame?
The sun set with a dull glow over Rayushen, tinging the walls with a dull gold. In the castle gardens, between the training corridors, two figures exchanged blows at high speed.
Yui and Aiko.
Both were sweating, breathing heavily, but they didn't stop. Aiko, still with traces of her earlier struggle in her eyes, now wielded her weapon with determination. Her body faltered at times, but she remained standing.
'Face me, Aiko! Don't let your guard down when I turn,' Yui ordered.
'I know...!' replied the redhead, forcing her legs to move.
The sound of metal, boots sliding across the ground, and the panting of lungs filled the space. It wasn't a real fight, but it wasn't a gentle practice either. Aiko didn't want gentleness. She wanted rigour.
Yui stopped, spun on one foot, and lunged straight for her shoulder. Aiko dodged it by millimetres but stumbled backwards.
'Again!' she shouted, angry with herself.
Yui smiled slightly. 'Your body is still adjusting. Don't push yourself too hard today.'
'I'm not interested in today. I'm interested in being able to measure up when I find him.
Yui lowered her weapon. She looked at her with a mixture of respect and sadness.
'Shiranai?
Aiko nodded. "I don't know if I'll ever see him again. But if I do... I don't want him to see me the same way he did when he left me behind. I don't want him to see me broken.
A few steps away, leaning against a tree, Ayame watched with her arms crossed. Her hair was pulled back, revealing her curved obsidian earrings. She was dressed in her usual attire: protective, elegant, adapted for movement. She wasn't wearing a healer's robe, because she wasn't just that.
'You know,' she said, breaking the tension, 'if you're going to make me come here every time one of you gets your ego bruised... you should at least invite me for dessert afterwards.
Yui rolled her eyes. 'What are you doing here, Ayame?
'I'm here to make sure you don't kill the poor girl with your Spartan methods,' she said with a smile, though her tone was serious. 'And also to see if you're ready for tonight's announcement.'
'Announcement?'
'A meeting of kingdom delegates. It seems some are finally coming out from behind their walls,' she explained as she approached. 'And, well, you know what that means.' Competition.
Ayame reached out and, with an elegant gesture, made a healing sphere glow between her fingers. No commands. No objects. Pure channelled skill.
Yui raised an eyebrow. 'I thought you only used potions.'
'Oh, please,' Ayame laughed, touching Aiko's forehead with two fingers, relieving a throbbing pain in her arm. 'You think I'd become Rayushen's best healer by knowing how to brew tea? In case you forgot... I'm also dual class.
Yui clicked her tongue. 'Battle healer...
'Level 6 in life flow control. Level 8 in precision manipulation. But I also know how to kick ass when I need to. You can't always save everyone with a smile,' she added, and for a moment, her gaze hardened.
Aiko watched her silently. Ayame didn't usually speak seriously. But when she did... you felt it.
'Come on,' she added lightly, turning her back to them as she gathered her hair with a ribbon. 'I'll buy you something hot before the report. You trained today as if you were facing the final boss.'
Yui sighed. Aiko nodded with a short laugh.
And as the three of them left the track, in the highest halls of the castle, the news kept coming.
A special broadcast began to circulate among the connected players, authorised by the game's messaging system. It summarised the current situation:
'Thirteen regional bosses have already been defeated. Some kingdoms have stalled, while others are advancing aggressively. It is unknown how long it will be before the supposed final boss appears.'
One of the presenters pointed to an interactive map:
'The Kingdom of Luthenthal, in the northeast, was the last to clear an entire domain. Its commander, the warrior queen Sophie, is considered one of the most feared warriors in the game. She wields her sword as if the steel were part of her.'
'Do you know what they say about her?'
'She doesn't give orders... she sets an example. She leads every offensive.'
'And her combat skills... have not yet been shown in public. But those who have seen her say that "the wind changes when she draws her sword."'
'Could she be the one to trigger the final boss event?'
'Or will it be someone no one expects?'
On social media, the debates raged on:
'What about the other kingdoms? Some aren't even moving. Are they waiting for the others to do the work?'
'If everyone has to contribute for the final boss to appear, then it's not enough to stay in the fortress. We have to move forward!'
'What if the game punishes passivity? What if staying in one place is worse?'
'What if this Shiranai isn't even a real player?'
'What if what's happening inside the game... isn't controlled by anyone anymore?'
As the sun disappeared and the lights of Rayushen slowly came on, the calm was only apparent.
All the kingdoms were preparing.
Some with planning.
Others with arrogance.
And others... unaware that the worst was yet to come.