The soft rustle of leaves, the gentle whistling of the wind, and the distant chirping of birds, a peaceful symphony welcomed Elian as he opened his eyes.
He found himself lying beneath a single tree, surrounded by endless grassy plains swaying under the breeze. The ground beneath him felt soft. Without thinking, he tried to sit up.
Then it hit him, he remembered. He wasn't supposed to be able to move.
But before he could process that thought, his body reacted. He had already sat up.
This... What...?
Everything happened too fast to make sense of it. He looked down at his hands, his body was dressed in a simple tunic and shorts, worn leather shoes on his feet. But none of that mattered.
What mattered was that he could move.
He could feel.
To a normal person, this might seem insignificant. But Elian wasn't normal. He had been paralyzed for over three years. A once-gifted prodigy, trapped in a body that refused to move, only he knows the frustration and helplessness he had swallowed every day, those were things most people couldn't begin to imagine.
He stared at his hands, as if seeing them for the first time. His vision blurred.
Tears.
He was crying. He hadn't even realized it. The overwhelming relief, the sheer joy, burst through the dam he'd built around his emotions. Even though he knew it was just a game, it was still a world where he could move freely. Endless possibilities ran through his mind.
He wanted to scream. He wanted to run, to jump, to feel the wind hit his face. But instead, he sat still, frozen in awe. Frozen in joy.
After a while, almost as if it had been patiently waiting for him to calm down, a gentle voice rang out. It was soft, and sounded like that of a young girl. "Are you okay? Why are you crying? Didn't they say grown ups don't cry?"
Startled, Elian looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. But there was no one in sight. "Am I hallucinating now? Maybe it's because I haven't moved in so long…" He let out a soft sigh and brushed it off, assuming it was just his mind playing tricks on him.
"Hey, are you crazy? Why are you talking to yourself?" the voice sounded again.
This time, Elian was able to pinpoint where it came from, and what he saw left him just as shocked as realizing he could move.
Right in front of him stood a tiny, white, fluffy rabbit.
A talking rabbit. It was very small, something that can be held with just a palm. It had huge droopy ears.
It was tiny, small enough to fit in the palm of his hand, with huge, droopy ears that bounced slightly as it moved.
"What the…" Elian muttered, completely thrown off. Instead of answering its earlier question, he asked, "Who are you... Wait, no. What are you?"
The rabbit didn't seem bothered by his lack of response. In fact, it answered cheerfully, "Ohh! I'm Nana. I'm your host in this personal space. I'll help you create your in-game character, introduce you to some functions, and go over the stuff you'll need to take care of before diving in."
"In-game character? Aren't we already in the game?" Elian asked, confused.
"Nope!" Nana replied with a bright grin. "This space is just a personal zone. You can change how it looks to whatever you want. Think of it like your desktop wallpaper. It might look endless, but your actual movement area is just about a hundred square meters."
"Aaaand, by the way" dragging her words, Nana added with a mischievous smile. "You can't die in this space, but you can still feel pain, so maybe don't go turning the scenery into a volcano or dropping yourself underwater for fun."
"What kind of psycho would want to feel their body burning for no reason?" he muttered. Then after a pause, he added with a sigh, "Actually… on second thought, someone would probably do it for the clout."
"But hmmm…100 sqm... That's still pretty big," Elian said, looking around. "So what can I actually do in this space?"
"This place is mostly a buffer," Nana explained. "It's like a bridge between your world and the Land of Beginnings. You normally won't be able to access this space unless under special circumstances," Nana said, her voice suddenly taking on a dramatic flair. "Now, let me introduce you to a world of adventure and chaos. Hidden from the eyes of the ordinary are endless clashes between light and darkness. A place where power reigns supreme… where good and evil blur into perspective. Slaughter is common, trust is rare, and danger lurks behind every shadow. Traverse lands of dragons and dungeons, rise through strength, and carve your name into legend. But remember, what you see on the surface is rarely what it truly is…"
With that, Nana began unveiling the mysteries of the Origin to Elian.
"This would've been so much cooler if Nana wasn't a talking bunny," Elian thought.
As if she had read his mind, the world around him suddenly shifted. The grassy plains vanished, replaced by an endless void of black. Then, the voice returned, but it was no longer the sweet, chirpy voice of a cute bunny. Instead, one resembling a seasoned war general narrating from the edge of a battlefield. The weight behind each word filled Elian with endless excitement and expectations.
In the darkness, visions came alive, grand, vivid, and impossibly vast. The Big Bang exploded before him, stars forming and collapsing. Dinosaurs raced across the ancient lands. A cultivator soared through the sky with a half broken sword, splitting mountains in his wake. Kingdoms flourished and fell in flames. The world pulsed with magic, chaos, and war.
It no longer felt like a game, It felt like a calling.
Elian stood frozen, heart racing, eyes wide with awe. The stimulation hit him like a huge tidal wave. He felt like a boat about to capsize. After years of suffering and silence, his heart was once again craving for adventure.
In that moment, he was so entranced by the thrill of what lay ahead that he completely forgot Mia and Robert were still waiting outside.