Neon lights glared at Adrian through the window, relentless and blinding—like a game that never ended. Fighting the lights for years, he tried all sorts of methods. Blackout curtains, multi-layered drapes—hell, even just taking off the glasses. The damn lights would always win.
Resigned to working under his brother's company AR LIFE, he was trapped in the most depressing role possible. A digital grave manager. That's right. This company has digital graves for people. It felt like a sick joke, having to archive dead people's memories and spaces in some sort of overlay, hosting digital funerals.
Adrian sighs.
Adonis always was the better one.
The 'unimaginable genius' this, the 'architect of the modern age' that.
He created the AR overlay that the whole world participates in, day in day out. It's a gamified version of life, showing everything you could ever possibly want digitally in real life. Walk past a movie theater, and it shows you previews and scores of all current movies playing as a pop up. If you stare for a slight bit too long, you might see someone's personal stats: their breakups, their favorite items, even where they might work. It was shocking and exciting, everyone immediately buying into the fantasy.
It was too much for Adrian, but never enough for the world. Gritting his teeth and showing a positive light on the outside, he supported his brother. He wanted the same love and passion that he had. Yet he could never find the spark, the inspiration. He had to fight and claw his way up just to make it to Grave Manager.
"How pathetic."
Staring at the blinding white screen, he shakes his head and clicks the button to turn off his PC, rocking the monitor slightly from the force. Suddenly, he feels the urge to check the news and—
His brother was on the news. Or rather the fact he wasn't there was on the news. Supposedly, he was now missing.
"Well I'll be damned, cheeky bastard wanted some time off."
He smirks and grabs his cold instant coffee, gritting his teeth at the bitterness of it. As he goes to take another sip, he listens a little further to the story.
"Adonis Caldwells was discovered missing late this afternoon, after his agent went by his house to be sure he wasn't just skipping work. A majority of people are now up in arms at where he could possibly be. In other news—"
Adrian feels his heart drop like a pin, and then turns around, looking at the neon lights once more.
"I know where he's at. Surely he went to Hawaii, he loved that place."
But even though that might sound confident, it felt heavy on his chest. Complete silence isn't really Adonis's thing. Adrian begins tapping his foot on the ground, and dials up his brother's personal number. It rings for just a second, and then—
"The number you have called cannot be reached at this time. You may hang up—"
"Come on man, pick up!"
Again, no answer from Adonis. Adrian's hands begin shaking, and he knows that something is wrong.
***
A dark room full of strewn about articles of Adonis's disappearance and AR LIFE's new CEO, a goody-two-shoes who put a bad taste in Adrian's mouth. All the way in the back of this depressing room sits a gaunt young man with heavy dark bags under his eyes, staring at some dirty files about Adonis. Everyone called it a cold case murder.
But Adrian called it bullshit.
After five years of fruitless searching, Adrian finds nothing. Not even a scrap of info he could maybe hold onto for hope. Years of searching all for—
What? Mockery? Idiotic beliefs that his brother might be hiding somewhere for God knows why?
Adrian rubs his eyes, believing it's finally time to give up. He slams the cold hard desk with a fist, and stands up for the first time in hours. His head aches from not eating enough, and his legs ache from not stretching enough. His body feeling as if it's going to tumble from beneath him, he marches out of the apartment to the library, acknowledging the swathes of people most likely judging him for the hermit with suit that he looks like currently. Granted, he doesn't blame them.
More judging looks from the individuals in the library. Of course. He scans the library shelves for anything that could possibly take his mind off his brother. He runs his fingers along the book spines in the fantasy section, eventually finding something that seems corny enough to work. He rubs the dusty cover, and sees the title "Another World" by...J.L.L Bumkins?
"Strange..."
Adrian shakes his tired head and the crusty leather spine cracked beyond belief as he opened it, smelling strangely like fresh paper. It's...
A blank page? Before he can even raise a brow, he blacks out.
The first thing he notices is the smell. It's like an unbearable stench of someone not washing for weeks. Then, he finds himself laying on something moderately comfortable, but nothing like what he might be accustomed to. Whatever it is, it's not a floor. A faint voice calls to him while his eyes are closed, unable to recognize whatever the voice may be.
It sounded like something out of a fantasy novel. Before he can think any further about it, it rang again, sounding like an older voice.
Suddenly his head is hit with something mind shattering, pure torment to his whole skull. Such anguish causes his eyes to shoot open, holding onto anything that might make him grounded to this reality.
"Holy SHIT!"
He loudly screams in agony for just a few seconds, and then—
It suddenly stops.
As soon as he can finally stare at his surroundings instead of it being a dazed and blurry mess, he sees a black panel appear in front of him with white text, suspiciously similar to his brother's obnoxious AR tech. He reads it with curiosity, and then reads it again, attempting to truly register what it says.
[Do you wish to save your brother?]
[Y/N]