I Woke Up Inside My Friend's Video Game

[Arc 1] Chapter 26x. Secret Chapter

Arc 1 - The Unbound Path

Ah, mortals.

Always dabbling in things they barely comprehend, but that's why I love them so. And one mortal, in particular, caught my eye—a lad named Jin Gallermo, locked in his little room, tinkering with mods for a game that I have quite the fondness for. Skyrim, you say? Oh yes, the land of dragons, Daedric Princes, and utter madness. Now, where was I? Oh, right, Jin's miserable, delightful "company travel" whatever that is...

The stale air of Jin Gallermo's hotel room clung to his skin, the scent of old coffee grounds and fast food wrappers a constant reminder of the life he was escaping. His fingers tapped at the keyboard, mechanical, rhythmic, almost robotic, as he hunched over his glowing laptop screen. "Just a few more lines of code," Jin muttered to himself, the only living creature to hear him. Outside, life bloomed—birds sang, other tourists laughed, the sun shone—but not in here. No, Jin's "company travel" was spent in the pixelated land of Skyrim, hunched in the suffocating cocoon of digital creation.

"Why go outside when I can create inside?" Jin would often say, laughing to himself. He was working on a special mod—his magnum opus. A quest where a brave knight (his avatar, naturally) would rescue a princess from a dragon's lair at the Throat of the World. The twist? The princess was Nocturnal herself, or at least a version of her, because in Jin's fantasy, Daedric Princes could be anything...even lovers.

How quaint, you say? Well, buckle in. I, Sheogorath, Daedric Prince of Madness, was watching it all unfold, and oh, the fun was just beginning.

The screen in front of Jin flickered (while the event hall was being devoured by the storm), but he didn't notice at first. He was too wrapped up in tweaking the dragon's AI. "C'mon, Alduin, don't glitch on me now," he grumbled, completely missing the fact that the lights in the room had dimmed. The air felt charged, static creeping up his skin. Then, with a surge of energy, the laptop sparked, the screen flashed a blinding white, and—POOF!.

Jin stumbled as his vision cleared. Snow crunched under his boots, the chill wind biting at his face. He blinked hard, trying to process what had happened. Gone was the sterile light of his laptop, the four walls of his hotel room. Instead, mountains towered around him, their peaks sharp and cold against a bruised sky.

"No way..." he breathed. The smell of pine and snow filled his nostrils, crisp and real. Too real. Jin looked down at his hands. Leather gloves. Nightingale gloves. He was in Skyrim—literally, physically in Skyrim.

A voice whispered on the wind. "You're finally awake."

"Oh, gods..." Jin's heart raced. He spun around to see the Throat of the World looming in the distance, and beneath him, the vast wilderness of Tamriel stretched far and wide. "This—this can't be happening!"

Oh, but it was happening, and Jin's excitement was practically palpable. He flexed his fingers, and instinctively, power surged through him. "Nightingale skills," he muttered, almost giddy. Everything he knew about the game—the mods, the mechanics—was at his fingertips. He could feel it. Like some omnipotent player with console commands, only this time, there was no screen separating him from the game.

Without hesitation, Jin made his way to Riften, pulled by an invisible force, or perhaps something far more sinister. He passed through the gate into the city's murky underworld, the stone streets damp from rain and the stink of fish in the air. He found his way to the Ragged Flagon with unsettling ease. Brynjolf was waiting for him, leaning against a post, smirking as if he had known Jin would come all along.

"Ah, our new recruit," Brynjolf said, eyes gleaming. "Word travels fast down here. Karliah's impressed."

Jin's chest puffed with pride. Impressed? Karliah impressed by me? He grinned. "Lead the way."