When I blinked again, it's not just the ceiling above me anymore. My vision flickered, like an old TV booting up, and suddenly I'm staring at a movie playing across the ceiling itself.
A cutscene.
For anyone who doesn't know, in my case, otome games have two kinds of cutscenes. The romantic ones, where a guy with jawline sharp enough to slice diamonds whispers in your ear… and the lore ones, which are the dreaded, five-minute, "sit here while we tell you our world history" lore dumps. And judging by the ominous orchestral music swelling in my ears, I got the second one.
White text scrolls across the sky in fancy serif font, narrated by a deep, gravelly voice:
"Seven hundred years ago, in the year 1340 A.D., the world changed forever. The phenomenon that descended upon mankind was known as the Fluxwave Phenomenon…"
Fluxwave Phenomenon.
I'd heard of it before from the in-game codex back when I played on PC, but I usually skipped over it because... I was here for brooding pretty boys, not history class. Still, hearing it now, it's different. It feels heavy, like the words are pressing down on my chest.
The voice continued:
"The Fluxwave did not simply grant abilities. It rewrote humanity itself. Where once stood a single race, there emerged many. Because of this, Three Great World Wars were initiated. The first one was against the Fluviums, while the second and third were among Humans and Fluxers."
The sky rippled. I saw people screaming as light poured through their bodies. Some grew wings. Some sprouted horns. Others' eyes glowed like molten metal. Entire neighborhoods shifted as humans morph into elves, beastkin, demons and stranger things I don't even have names for.
The narrator doesn't let up.
"Abilities called Flux became the axis of survival. Fire, lightning, time, shadow, and with each gift came a cost. No two Flux users were the same. And soon, those gifts became curses."
I know where this is going. I was a lore player when I first started.
"Over the course of three centuries, from 1440AD., the world was drowned in blood. The Second and Third Great World Wars broke out not over land or coin, but over what race one was born as, and what Flux one bore."
The usual images of war like trenches filled with bodies, skies dark with bombs and entire medieval cities reduced to rubble was what I was looking at. But this isn't ordinary World War One, Two, and Three. Soldiers were breathing fire. Armies of winged knights were crashing into each other in midair and mages detonating entire battalions with a flick of their wrist and so on.
Everyone thought they were right. And the cycle kept spinning, generation after generation.
The narrator sighs through my ears, like he's tired just remembering.
"By 1710 A.D., after the Third Great War reduced the world to ash, mankind stood at the brink of extinction. And then… they stopped. For the first time in centuries, the slaughter ceased not by mercy, but by exhaustion."
The imagery shifted. Diplomats from every race were standing at a round table, glaring at each other but forced to speak. Treaties are signed in blood and Flux. Borders are redrawn.
"Out of that fragile peace were born the Twelve Houses, which are twelve great lineages forged by those who ended the war. For centuries, they ruled in uneasy harmony, rebuilding a fractured Earth into nations anew, calling their world Altera Earth."
The cutscene doesn't care about my attention span. It barrels on.
"Centuries passed. Technology advanced. Flux and machine intertwined. However, the world never forgot the Fluxwave Phenomenon."
The screen flashed forward. Neon skylines, cars hovering above streets, a slightly modern world... It's futuristic but also archaic, like the supernatural and science fiction had a baby and dressed it in fantasy cosplay.
"The story begins in the year 2040 A.D. February 14th. Valentine's Day, exactly seven hundred years since the Fluxwave Alteration began."
Of course it's Valentine's Day. What better day to start a dating sim than the one holiday that mocks single people with heart-shaped candy? I can almost hear Rina laughing at me from the grave.
The scene shifted one last time. The camera pans over a massive campus, sprawling gardens and banners fluttering with strange emblems.
"At the Flux University of Reversa, the institution for young adults born with Flux, where only those aged twenty-one and above may enter, the heroine's story begins."
The camera settled on a girl standing at the gates of the university, who is the protagonist of the story. She has average golden hair, average outfit and average everything because she's meant to be a blank slate for the player. But even so, I feel a shiver crawl down my spine. Because this is it. This is the real start of the game. This is the moment where all the routes, all the choices, all the heartbreak and happy endings begin.
And I'm not holding a controller anymore.
I'm in it.
-----
I sat up slowly, still clutching the covers like they're the only solid thing holding me together.
A soft ding echoed in my ears and out of nowhere, a holographic screen flickered into existence right in front of me. It's white and obnoxiously decorated with pink hearts dancing in the corners like some cheap Valentine's card. A little melody plays too. It's sweet and almost mocking.
The words scrolled across the screen in big, bubbly font:
[Welcome to Masquerade of Dreams: Shattered! Congratulations, Outer_110,635! You have officially entered the Game.]
I rubbed my eyes with the heel of my palm, but when I looked again, the screen is still there, mocking me with its bright white glow and pastel pink flourishes.
"Okay. Fine. Let's hear this circus act out."
----
[Rule One: You will never go back. This world is now your world. Permanently.]
My mouth goes dry. They didn't even sugarcoat it. No "temporary adventure," no "find a way home." They just have a blunt statement. I'm stuck here forever...
I let out a humorless laugh.
"Great. Fantastic. That's… that's not terrifying at all."
---
[Rule Two: Until the Main Story, Dominia Quest: University Arc is completed, the following are protected from death: the Heroine, her Love Interests, and any characters directly tied to the plot.]
[Any attempt to harm them will result in your elimination.]
[Elimination will be in the worst way possible.]
-----
The words "worst way possible" made me shiver. And somehow, I believe it. This isn't some "you lose a life" consequence. This is permanent.
"So game characters are basically untouchable right now. Great. Don't touch the pretty boys and those related to them. Got it."
---
[Rule Three: Should the Outer desire to exit, suicide is permitted. It will be painless and gentle.]
----
I froze. They're saying it so casually like it's a menu option. Hard pass.
---
[Rule Four: Killing other Outers is allowed. However, those tied to the Dominia Quest are untouchable until the University Arc ends. After that, the story is fair game.]
The way the word "allowed" glows in bold pink didn't make me feel better. Killing is not frowned upon. It's practically encouraged. And if other people got dragged in here like me? That means I'm not the only one.
-----
[Rule Five: After the University Arc continues, the world's plot will change based on Outer development.]
---
So the future of this world depends on us? The story can go completely off the rails depending on how the Outers act?
---
[Rule Seven: Players are free to do whatever they wish.]
[The only restriction: Do not harm Dominia Quest characters during the University Arc.]
[Outside of that? The world is yours.]
----
The hearts on the screen twirled around as if celebrating my newfound "freedom." It feels fake, like the kind of promise you know is going to stab you in the back eventually. And then, the last words appear. Unlike the others, they're not bubbly. They're cold. The hearts dissolve, leaving only stark white letters against black.
[Warning: THIS IS NOT A GAME. THIS IS REAL LIFE. Clinging to the mentality of "game" will transform you into a Fluvium.]
The hologram vanished with a snap, leaving me alone in the lavish room.
"So I'm trapped forever. I can't touch the main cast, level up or get crushed. And if I pretend this is just a game, I turn into some monster thing."
I let out a shaky laugh and collapsed back onto the bed.
"Yeah. No pressure at all. Who am I anyway?"
The second I see a sigil in my room is when I realize who I am.
"Oh fuck."