Sxxxxxxx Nxxxxx Fox stood in the center of her aunt's gaming suite. The curved obsidian shell of the Lucentis capsule slid open with a low hum, revealing the cushioned interior shaped to contour the human form in complete comfort.
She slid her fingers along its outer edge. The smooth carbon surface pulsed faintly beneath her touch. The glyph-etched border flickered a soft violet as her biometrics synced.
The Lucentis Capsule was the pinnacle of full-dive technology. The sleek, enclosed immersion chamber developed by Elarion Technologies supported long-duration neural linkage with emotional resonance feedback. Unlike consumer-level link rings, this capsule integrated physical isolation, biometric regulation, and subconscious stabilization—all designed to mimic the sensation of falling into a lucid dream.
Elarion Technologies became the global leader in immersive neurotech after pioneering three world-changing breakthroughs, including the latest most anticipated VRMMORPG, Blade Horizon Online.
The Corporation began as a private neuro-interface research lab created by Dr. Kurenai Aika after her fallout with corporate backers over AI safety limitations. Refusing to compromise, she established Elarion as a radical think-tank dedicated to building systems not just intelligent, but emotionally aware.
Her earliest white papers proposed the DreamWeave Protocol, an interface that could map emotional sequences, not just data pathways, thereby bridging the subconscious mind with artificial systems in real-time.
Sxxxxxxx looked up to Dr. Kurenai Aika. She created the Echo Lattice, allowing players' emotional memory traces to be stored, replayed, and evolved. Co-developed the DreamWeave Engine, which fused subconscious feedback with environmental behavior. Invented Emotive Lattice Mapping, translating emotional states into gameplay responses, spell outcomes, and NPC behavior. She was the first to create an AI (V-CORE) that could learn by feeling through contradiction, rather than relying solely on logic.
Her accomplishments were truly remarkable.
Though she would never say it aloud, Sxxxxxxx recognized herself in Aika. They were both hailed as prodigies from a young age, with a verified IQ Score of 216. They both were aloof and emotionally unreadable; Aika, in particular, was famously aloof and emotionally unreadable. And Sxxxxxxx, who spent her entire life left to the care of her aunt, Dr. Elira Kisaragi, one of the neural interface engineers behind Elarion Technologies, grew up in a world of isolation from the rest of the world. Taught by private tutors, fed on literature, theory, and old-world philosophy, she became a solitary genius who didn't know how to socialize with others outside of her aunt, tutors, and the estate's servants. Both chose detachment over vulnerability, but felt things deeply behind the veil.
So, when her aunt came home one day with news that she was participating in the creation of a new VRMMORPG developed by Dr Kurenai Aika, Sxxxxxxx was overjoyed. Dr. Elira Kisaragi was one of the senior architects of the Emotion Sync Layer in Blade Horizon Online, responsible for coding the system that adapted in real time to players' thoughts, stress, and subconscious reactions. She was also Dr. Kurenai Aika's former colleague, confidant, and silent rival, known for her methodical brilliance and ethical foresight.
Because of this, Sxxxxxxx was granted access to the closed beta under strict NDA, provided with a Lucentis Dive Capsule prototype installed at Elira's home research suite in Kyoto.
That was 3 months ago. Today marked the official launch of the game. She couldn't wait.
Sxxxxxxx checked the digital clock on the wall for the fifth time—11:57 PM. The game would launch at noon.
The sound of sliding doors brought Sxxxxxxx's attention away from her musings. Her aunt walked into the suite, her heels making that click-clack sound on the marble floors. Dr. Elira Kisaragi, 34, was a beautiful, intelligent woman. At 5'9" in height (without the heels), and long, jet black hair that was always braided. She always wore a white lab coat, even when she was off duty. It somehow made her analytic, ash-gray eyes stand out.
"I see you have everything set, Sxxxxxxx." Her aunt observed in her calm, clinical voice, which she always used when discussing technology and analytics. It always made Sxxxxxx feel like her aunt was a half-second ahead of everyone at all times.
"Mhm." Sxxxxxxx nodded in confirmation as she turned back to the capsule—two more minutes.
Elira chuckled softly at seeing her niece's over-enthusiasm (even though it didn't show on the younger girl's beautiful stoic face). It always amused Elira when she found something new that her adorable niece liked. 'I will need to have the Cook prepare her favorite roast beef and garlic herb mashed potatoes for when she takes her break from the game.' Elira honestly contemplated whether her colleagues were right about her spoiling her niece.
"All right. Get in. I know you're excited to play BHO again after all these months. Just be sure to come out for dinner in five hours."
Sxxxxxxx's blue eyes sparkled with excitement as she sat down and eased herself into the cradle-like interior. The Dream-Thread membrane accepted her weight with fluid precision, conforming to her form. The interior smelled faintly of lavender and spring rain. A comfort algorithm, probably.
"Capsule interface, begin prep," her clear, gentle voice echoed softly.
[LUCECORE OS v7.1 — Lucentis Dive Capsule Neural Sequence Initiated]
[Welcome, user: Sxxxxxxx Fox]
[Cognitive Index: Stable]
[Blood Oxygen: Optimal]
[Neural Spike Delay: 0.04s]
[EmotionSync: Online]
[REM State Mapping: Linked]
[Pain Filter Threshold: 92%]
[Motor Overdrive: Locked (Pre-Launch Phase)]
A lattice of constellations bloomed across the inside of the capsule lid, followed by a soft, robotic female voice. "Close your eyes. And crown yourself to enter the great Horizon."
She reached for the DreamLink Crown, which was attached to the overhead rail by a magnetic tether. As she brought it down onto her head, she paused briefly and looked up at her aunt.
With a soft, timid voice like spring wind, she whispered, "Thank you, aunty," before she closed her eyes.
The stars spun behind her eyelids. Her breath slowed with each counting star, until the real world vanished.
[BLADE HORIZON ONLINE - SYSTEM CORE LINKED]
[Now entering: Character Creation]
[Welcome, Sxxxxxxx Fox. Your story begins.]
💠💠💠
Dr. Elira Kisaragi stood with her arms crossed, silently observing as her niece's features softened, slipping into that tranquil, expressionless stillness that came only with the onset of sleep.
"You're really going to let her go in?" came a voice from behind, low and laced with restrained fury. "After what that woman planned?"
"I don't want to hear anything from you," Elira said coldly, eyes still fixed on the capsule. "Especially after you abandoned her the moment Aveline died."
A man around the age of late thirties to early forties entered the suite. The handsome man exuded a dark, commanding elegance. His sharp features were pale and sculpted, with black-blue hair swept back in refined disarray, casting dramatic shadows across his stoic expression. He wore a long, black leather trench coat adorned with gilded embroidery on the sleeves. Beneath it, a high-collared black shirt, subtly embroidered with obsidian patterns, clung to his form like a second skin, fastened by a dark blue gemstone pendant nestled in an intricate golden clasp. The chainwork along his belt and waist suggested precision, perhaps obsession—each link polished.
"That's beside the point, Elira," he said, voice a quiet blade. "You sent her in knowing there could be consequences. Aika is nowhere to be found after the game was finished."
He stepped closer, lowering his voice. "The code she left behind… I've decrypted it. Just like you asked, but it's not what you thought, far from it. If what Aika's goal was truly succeeded, then Elira... you might have sent Sxxxxxxx to die."
Elira didn't flinch, not visibly. But something in her jaw tightened, just barely. Her eyes stayed locked on the capsule's interface as soft pulses of light tracked her niece's vitals.
"You think I don't know that something was up?" Elira said at last, her voice low, brittle at the edges. "You think I didn't calculate every variable? Every outcome? You think I haven't been staying awake every night wondering what my friend was planning all this time? Why do you think I asked you, of all people, for help?"
She turned now, slowly, her sharp gaze meeting his. The light caught her glasses just enough to cast a brief glare, like a wall between them.
"I don't get the luxury of being emotional, Adrien. I don't get to grieve like you did. Aveline was my sister, my best friend. But unlike you, I stayed behind. I picked up the pieces. I took care of Sxxxxxxx when you couldn't bear to look at her."
His jaw clenched. "That wasn't—"
"Yes, it was," she snapped. "You looked at her and saw Aveline's ghost. I looked at her and saw the only thing left of the woman who kept us from tearing ourselves apart."
Elira stepped toward him now, each word honed with surgical precision.
"She's not just your daughter. She's my niece. And if there was any chance that Aika's code led to something greater, something that could bring her happiness, then yes, I took it. Even if it meant a risk. She has been locked up in this damn mansion her whole life, she needed a way to interact with others her own age."
Adrien stared at her, searching her face for any sign of doubt. He found none.
"And what if you're wrong?" he asked quietly.
Elira breathed in, shaky but controlled. "Then I'll be the one to answer for it."
A heavy silence stretched between them, pierced only by the soft hum of the capsule and the gentle rhythm of Sxxxxxxx's digital immersion.
Then Adrien's voice, barely above a whisper. "I lost Aveline. I can't lose her, too."
Elira looked away, her voice the barest thread. "Then pray Aika didn't do anything that would jeopardize my friendship with her." To herself she thought, 'But Adrien, you already lost her when you left her alone for the 16 years of her life. You really are a selfish man.'
_=_=_=
The moment her consciousness stabilized, Sxxxxxxx awoke to a breath-stealing world of light and shadow.
She stood barefoot on a polished floor of obsidian and star glass, each step echoing faintly like a ripple across eternity. Beneath the transparent tiles, glowing rivers of magic streamed like veins through the world's lifeblood, pulsing in rhythm with something ancient, something divine.
Above, the ceiling wasn't a ceiling at all. It was an ocean of stars swirling in slow, graceful motion, waves of pale blue and silver light cast liquid shadows across the chamber. Ethereal motes drifted lazily down like falling stars, fading before they touched the ground.
Surrounding her were seven towering statues, each easily thirty feet tall, each more lifelike than stone had any right to be. They faced inward in a perfect circle, and Sxxxxxxx stood at the center of their gaze.
A voice, crystalline and vast, whispered directly into her mind:
"Welcome, Initiate. You stand within the Hall of the Seven Origins. Here, all journeys begin. Choose your birthright."
Sxxxxxxx slowly began to walk, her footsteps echoing softly as she approached the first statue.
The Aetherborn, their celestial wings folded behind them, gaze downward with closed eyes and a faint smile. The pedestal beneath glowed faint gold.
"To be born of light and starlight, to wield the heavens, select this path to walk as one touched by the Skyborne Realm."
Sxxxxxxx turned, drawn by a soft hiss of heat.
The Drakkenblood leaned forward like a predator frozen mid-pounce. Crimson light pulsed from between their scales, and their tail wrapped possessively around the base of their pedestal.
"Born of dragonfire and ancient wars, our blood remembers every blaze. Take this path and awaken your inner flame."
Further along, the air grew cold.
The Glacien stood regal, their face emotionless as falling snow. Ice crystals formed at their feet. A soft wind swirled around her, and her breath misted.
"We do not burn—we endure. Embrace the chill of clarity. Become the storm beneath still waters."
The Forgedkin hummed with low energy. Their metal frame glowed faint blue where mana circulated.
"Crafted by will, sustained by purpose. To be Forgedkin is to rise beyond flesh. Strength is not born—it is built."
Sxxxxxxx paused before the Sylvarin, and the scent of moss, earth, and wildflowers enveloped her. Their emerald eyes seemed to follow her every move.
"We are root and branch, storm and sun. Choose us to dance with nature, to sing with the world."
The Elarian Human looked so… familiar. So mundane. Their posture was strong but open. Ambition radiated from their gaze.
"Not the strongest. Not the fastest. But ever-changing, ever-reaching. The human path is yours to shape."
And then, darkness.
The Umbrafallen statue didn't move, but the shadows around it shifted. Their form was beautiful and dreadful, like a secret begging to be kept.
"We are the exiled. The broken made whole. To walk in shadow is to see truths others fear. Take this path, and walk unseen."
Behind her, the chamber remained quiet, but the air had changed. The statues hummed with expectation, awaiting her choice.
Floating in front of each pedestal was a pulsing glyph, waiting to be touched.
And then the voice returned:
"One soul. One race. One beginning. Choose."
Sxxxxxxx stood still for a long moment, her breath quiet in the charged silence of the chamber. Above her, starlight danced across the ceiling-ocean, painting silver fire in her white hair. Her reflection in the glass-tiled floor wavered, faintly luminous, eyes wide with wonder.
Seven statues towered around her.
Each one called to something different—power, serenity, legacy, creation, freedom.
But only one called to her more than the others.
She turned.
Not to the radiant glow of the Aetherborn. Not to the wild beauty of the Sylvarin. Not to the molten pride of the Drakkenblood or the adaptive will of humanity.
No.
She walked toward the edge of the circle, toward the coldest, darkest pedestal in the chamber.
The Umbrafallen.
Wrapped in an eternal twilight, the statue shimmered like oil across glass, its cloak of void shifting with the slightest breeze that wasn't there. Its eyes—deep violet flames—watched her. Not menacing. Not cruel.
"We are the exiled… the truth that lies beneath light's illusion. To walk in shadow is not to be lost. It is to see more clearly than those blinded by radiance."
As she approached, the temperature dropped. The air grew still. The hum of the other statues dimmed, as if bowing to her decision.
A faint, dark glyph hovered just above the pedestal—black trimmed with indigo fire, etched with an ancient sigil that pulsed to the rhythm of her heart.
She reached out and touched it.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Race Selected: Umbrafallen
Initiating soul-binding…
Darkness rushed in. It wasn't cold. It felt comfortable—a womb of stars and silence. A pulse of violet burst outward from the pedestal, lighting up the chamber in streaks of moonfire and ink. The statue's eyes flared. The other six figures bowed in silence.
And when the light faded, Sxxxxxxx stood changed. Her jet black hair now shimmered with streaks of violet and nebula hues. A tattoo of glowing sigils bloomed across her back like a pair of ghostly wings. Her eyes, once soft blue, now blazed with luminous violet, rimmed in darkness.
From the shadows at her feet, a cloak formed.
The voice returned, softer now. Almost reverent.
"Chosen of the Umbrafallen. You walk the path of shadow and grace. Go forth, Sxxxxxxx of the Hollow Star. Your story begins."
The chamber rumbled. And a staircase of woven starlight descended from the ceiling, leading upward into the next part of character creation.
Sxxxxxxx exhaled, her cloak shifting behind her like smoke made silk.
She stepped forward.
A smaller, more intimate space bathed in swirling twilight and violet mist. The walls were polished obsidian, reflecting her form from a thousand angles, while strange blooms floated gently in the air, pulsing with soft light like stars.
At the chamber's center stood a mirror unlike any she'd ever seen.
The Mirror of Becoming.
[SYSTEM: Customize Appearance – Active]
"Manifest your truest self. Form follows will."
Sxxxxxxx stepped closer. The moment her bare fingers brushed the mirror's surface, it rippled outward in waves of indigo and silver.
And the image began to shift.
The modest default armor of a new player melted away like fog, replaced by a sleeveless gown of shadowwoven silk. Its fabric glittered like stardust spilled across the void, cinched at the waist with a black ribbon and violet emblem—elegant, noble, and dangerous.
Her skin glowed with a gentle moonlight hue, soft against the deep black of her attire. Delicate gloves formed along her arms, laced with dark lacework as if spun from night and memory.
Her long, flowing hair darkened to a rich violet-indigo, cascading past her waist in silken waves, with tiny starlit flecks catching in its flow like constellations. A golden crescent hairpiece settled naturally into place near her temple, nestled among matching violet-blue blossoms.
Her eyes, no longer midnight blue, now shimmered with a fierce amethyst fire with flecks of gold, lined with violet eyeliner; her gaze was serene yet piercing. Like the calm of the moon before the rise of a great tide.
[Customization Accepted.]
"Identity calibrated."
A final breeze swept through the chamber, lifting the petals and stirring her dress. The mirror pulsed once and then vanished in a shimmer of glass dust. In its place rose a long, winding bridge suspended above an abyss of swirling mist and stars. At its end stood an obsidian shrine, and upon it were twelve blades.
Each floated midair in a slow, ceremonial rotation, bathed in ethereal moonlight. Not ornate. Not legendary. But common, sturdy, balanced, and forged for those at the beginning of their path.
The voice of the System returned, reverent and profound:
[Combat Style Selection: Initiate Tier]
"You may select your foundation: a weapon of the Twelve Paths. All are equal at the beginning. All evolve by your hand alone."
Each weapon hummed with its own aura, flickering like faint embers of identity.
A heavy axe, chipped but proud, glowed with smoldering red.
A rapier, slender and precise, shimmered with a gleam like morning frost.
A pair of hooked swords curled through the air like crescent moons in motion.
The twin daggers flickered in and out of visibility, hungry.
A katana hovered still, balanced between serenity and death.
The scythe spun lazily, trailing dark mist as it moved.
A halberd, long and brutal, exuded battlefield authority.
A greatsword, crude but massive, thudded with each slow rotation.
The spear glinted with grace, its point sharp enough to pierce fate.
Shortswords, twin and unassuming, glinted like wolves' eyes.
A longsword, simple, gleaming faintly, its guard carved with a faded star sigil, offering balance between offense and control.
Sxxxxxxx stepped forward without hesitation.
She ignored the curved elegance of the scythe, passed by the twin daggers whispering for speed, and left behind the seductive draw of the katana.
Her eyes locked on the longsword.
There was something about its stillness. It wasn't trying to impress or begging to be used. It simply was dependable, quiet, and sharp enough to become a legend in the right hands.
She reached out. Her fingers curled around the hilt. "Let's carve a path together, Hmm?"
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Weapon Selected: Longsword (Common Grade)
Style Affinity: Balanced | Adaptive | Precision
Starting Skill: [Edgeflow Stance I] — +3% attack speed and accuracy when maintaining posture.
The weapon sank into her inventory, a faint afterimage resting across her back.
And then, one final panel appeared before her, glowing violet in the air.
[Enter Character Name]
"Designate the name by which the world shall know you. Using your real life name is forbidden."
She stared at the prompt for a moment. Then slowly, she typed Sapphire.
A name both beautiful and sharp. Regal and venomous. A jewel, yes, but one you could cut your throat on.
She confirmed.
[Welcome, Sapphire]
Umbrafallen | Longsword Wielder
Level: 1 | Status: Initiate | Zone: Floor 1, City of Origins
"May the moon light your way."
The world blurred around her. And she descended into the world of Blade Horizon Online.