On the evening of October 17th, the brand-new VRMMORPG was launched, developed by the "Aeternae" video game developer and publisher and carrying the name of "Immolation Online".
The first server to be launched was European and the only one to ever be running. Thirty minutes into the launch, the exit button disappeared from the players' in-game menus. All possible lines of communication with the outside world were shortly cut off. It was now impossible to either leave the game, log into it, or connect to the Internet from inside of it. Approximately thirteen thousand people were entrapped inside the virtual reality that day.
Yet, unbeknownst to the public and to the entrapped players was the now hazardous nature of the Neurona, the apparatus that transferred one's consciousness into the virtual worlds. Any attempt at trying to lift the machine off a player's head, prolonged absence of Internet connection, device running out of power, or player's in-game demise would result in severe brain damage or death. This information was laid out on the developer's official website publicly, yet the entrapped players were not informed of it in any way. In the first hour of the accident, there were twelve people reported dead.
Immediate legal action was executed. Almost all of "Aeternae" staff members were put under arrest, except for high-ranking officials of the company, who fled the scene days before the accident and were now classified as subjects of a federal hunt.
Immediate medical action also proceeded. Entrapped players were delivered to the nearest hospitals for prolonged care and observation. Special medical care facilities were also promptly organized.
The following exposition of in-game events is presented from the perspective of Junius "Leer" Keller.