The air in the underground chamber was cold and sterile, humming faintly with the low vibration of running machinery. LCD screens lined every wall, bathing the room in a soft, shifting glow. Each screen displayed a different live feed—grainy footage of black-uniformed soldiers storming through various city buildings. Their weapons were raised, movements sharp and aggressive. Drones hovered above them, scanning, locking targets, directing the invasion in real-time.
Amidst the flickering glow stood a lone figure.
A man—tall, youthful, composed. His hair shimmered in ever-shifting colors, glowing faintly like strands of fiber-optic light. Red. Gold. Cyan. Indigo. The hues pulsed with a rhythm not quite natural, like something alive—or something remembered from the distant edge of a dream.
He stood with hands folded behind his back, eyes fixed on the largest screen.
"They've come sooner than expected," he muttered to himself. His voice was calm. Not without emotion, but resigned.
He sighed deeply, his gaze distant now.
How did it come to this? he thought.
His mind drifted backward, peeling through memories like pages of an old, brittle book.
The world above was no longer the Earth he had been born into. It was a corpse—polluted skies where birds no longer flew, oceans where no fish swam, forests reduced to barren dust. People couldn't even breathe the air without oxygen masks, and the wildlife that once filled children's books had vanished entirely. The beauty of nature remained only in archived videos and dusty literature, things now viewed as fantasy.
Despair had settled into the bones of humanity.
Until virtual reality had offered an escape.
It began with immersive VRMMORPGs—games that mimicked sensation, offered adventure, fantasy, and the illusion of freedom. People flocked to them in droves, trading the dying real world for vivid digital realms. But even those, despite their marvels, lacked something. They could not simulate everything.
But then came the breakthrough: the Soul Dive interface. A new era dawned with the invention of the Soul Dive MMORPG—games that interfaced directly with the human soul. In these worlds, every sensation—taste, touch, pain, emotion—was real. Perfectly real.
And at the center of that revolution stood him.
A genius, the world called him. A madman, some whispered.
He had created the next evolutionary leap: the Soul World DIVE MMORPG—SWDMMORPG. A world powered not by mere code or computation, but by something more profound. He had named it Soul World Online, or simply SWO.
In this universe, he built not a hero, but a god—his avatar: the World Tree, YGGDRASIL. It stood alone in an infinite void, a colossal entity of otherworldly majesty. But unlike the mythic trees of old with bark of brown and leaves of green, YGGDRASIL was a cosmic anomaly. Its trunk and branches were obsidian black, etched with specks of shimmering white, resembling the night sky. Each bough seemed to contain entire galaxies—planes of existence folded into their very fibers.
These branches housed vast realms. Some were barren, crawling with grotesque beasts born of entropy. Others thrived with civilizations—elven forests, floating citadels, desert empires, and arcane academies. Each plane a testament to imagination made manifest.
Its leaves were jewels of light, glowing in every conceivable color, ever-shifting. Each leaf had a singular purpose: to draw energy from the void and transmute it. They created soul energy, matter, and mana—three pillars that sustained the soul world. Well that's how the game lore goes.
He didn't just code a game.
He created a functioning metaphysical ecosystem.
Each plane obeyed consistent laws of soul physics—laws he had painstakingly designed.
But the true miracle wasn't in the game.
It was in what came after.
At first, the changes were small. When his avatar, YGGDRASIL, reached level 100, he began to notice strange effects in his physical body. A flicker of unnatural color in the mirror. A sense of fullness even without eating. The air around him seemed lighter.
By level 110, the signs could no longer be ignored.
His hair shimmered constantly, the exact same way YGGDRASIL's leaves did in the game. His body required almost no sustenance—no food, water, or even oxygen. His muscles no longer fatigued. He could go days without rest and still feel awake. Panic had hit him briefly, but with his scientific mind and analytical tools, he investigated further.
What he discovered terrified and awed him.
The game world's soul rules had become real—at least, to him. Through his deep connection to the Soul Dive system and his unique role as the game's creator and host, his consciousness had intertwined with the soul realm he built. The world he created wasn't just a simulation—it existed, fully and independently, in another plane of existence. And as he leveled YGGDRASIL, his mastery over that world grew, until the power of its laws began to overwrite the laws of Earth—in him.
He ran the calculations. For average players, a similar transformation would only begin at around level 1000.
At first, he was thrilled.
He had discovered the key to salvation. A way to evolve humanity—not through genetic engineering, but through soul resonance. The game, he realized, could change the world itself.
But the rules of his world were rigid.
They were not designed for reckless power fantasy. The soul world had depth and balance. The transformations he underwent were real, yes—but not limitless. He could not fly, shoot beams, or crush tanks with a glance like comic book heroes. His power was natural, not explosive.
When he tried modifying the rules to create shortcuts or amplify potential, he discovered a horrifying risk.
Tampering with the world's balance could lead to catastrophic collapse—not just of the game, but the entire soul realm.
He couldn't risk it. He had achieved a miracle once. He might not be able to do it again.
So, he made a decision.
He would keep the truth hidden.
But as more players reached higher levels and began reporting strange experiences, rumors began to swirl. A few even demonstrated minor abilities—enhanced senses, immunity to disease, bursts of speed or perception.
The governments of the world noticed.
And now, they had come for him.