Surrounded by many friends and lovers, Aia has always felt lonely. Changing appearance many times, she always felt like she is not enough. Life was passing away, while Aia spent all of her time in the next generation metaverse called Elysium, a real...
I enter the "Everlasting Love" room at the invitation of a guy I met on a matchmaking app. This is the first time I have used the app. The room is a replica of Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, but completely empty. It seems like I just got scammed.
I stand on the edge and peer into the distance of non-existent city life. It is clear that this huge cliff and skyscrapers seen from here in the red light of a bright sunset is just an illusion, but for some reason I feel uncomfortable.
In vain I turned on physical access, but on the other hand, fears must be fought. I want to jump off and experience the feeling of flying from such a great height. I will be quickly kicked out of the server, but I'm still afraid. Elysium seems to come to life before our eyes, every day more realistic, especially if you connect the physical access.
"Sorry I'm late," I hear an unfamiliar male voice behind me.
Turning around, I see that guy from the app. Swarthy, with green eyes, a tattoo above the eyebrow, dark hair with icy blue dye at the ends is braided into short dreadlocks and gathered in a ponytail.
"Hi," I say calmly.
"How long have you been waiting?" he smiles.
"How did you do this?"
"What are you talking about?" he continues to smile, only now with incomprehension in his eyes.
"I received an invitation to the location, but when I arrived, no one was here. It's impossible. You can only invite a user while you're staying directly in the room."
After my words his smile was replaced by a grim grin.
"It's time to get used to the fact that everything is possible in this world."
With these words, he rushes to me and wrings my hands behind my back. Games are games, but I wasn't ready for such a turn of events, so I unconsciously scream.
Suddenly, two more people appear in the location - dressed in all black, with masks on their faces.
"Great job, Jaseh," one of the guys says, moving closer.
"I checked her accounts, she has over a thousand physical minutes, she must be rich," Jaseh who is holding me smiles nastily again.
How did he know the number of minutes available to me?
The masked guy pats his friend on the shoulder approvingly, then looks back at me with his bright yellow eyes.
"Will you share some minutes?" his sweet voice makes me sick.
"I came here for fun, not for charity," I snap, trying to wriggle out of Jaseh's strong grasp. The masked user laughs and then grabs my hair and lifts his head so that my face is directly in front of his. That's when I remember that I have physical access turned on, and I feel the pain just like in reality.
"Let me go!" I squeal, releasing one hand from Jaseh's grip and tugging at my own hair to ease the pain.
"No, I won't let you go. See how it works. You thought, since you got into the metaverse, then everything here is illusory? No way. Apparently, in reality, you have enough money to buy so many physical minutes. You're just a spoiled rich babygirl, but people like us are a little less fortunate, and the only way out is to live here, that's why we need a lot of minutes, plus our own locations. And you can help us with this. Do you want to do charity? No problem! Let's do it together!" his voice is hard, angry. A face with a wild smile that I can feel even behind the black mask.
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