The office building doors swung shut behind them, sealing away another day of fluorescent lights and keyboard clicks.
Rohit barely noticed. His mind was already elsewhere—racing through strategies, item loadouts, boss patterns he'd memorized frame by frame.
Tonight. The final quest. Seven years for this moment.
The Eternal Throne. Kingdom X Monster's last challenge. No guides existed. No one had ever reached it except him. Every previous player had either quit or gotten stuck in the endlessly branching questlines, lost in a world too vast to conquer.
But not Rohit.
I've sacrificed everything for this. Weekends. Relationships. Sleep. If there's an answer at the end—if Dr. Gupta really left something there—I'm going to find it.
"—so I told him, 'Sir, with all due respect, that's not a bug, that's a feature!'" Mohan laughed at his own joke beside him.
Rohit made a vague sound of acknowledgment, still lost in thought.
Then something made him stop walking.
A presence. A feeling he couldn't name.
He looked up.
High above the clouds, a figure made of pure light descended like a falling star. Humanoid. Radiant. Impossible.
"Holy shit," he breathed.
"What?" Mohan followed his gaze. "What are you looking at?"
"That! Right there!" Rohit pointed, his hand shaking slightly. "You seriously don't see that glowing—"
The figure blinked out of existence.
Gone. Just... gone.
Rohit's finger hung stupidly in the air, pointing at nothing.
"...See what?" Mohan squinted at the empty sky. "Dude, you've been staring at your monitor for twelve hours a day. Your brain's melting."
"I'm not—" Rohit rubbed his eyes. What the hell was that? "Never mind."
"This is exactly what I'm talking about." Mohan poked him in the shoulder. "You're so obsessed with that game, you're hallucinating. Kingdom X Monster is eating your soul, man."
"It's not eating my soul."
"You've played it every single day for seven years."
"That's dedication."
"That's clinical insanity." Mohan grinned. "But hey, tonight's the big night, right? Last quest. Final boss. The legendary Rohit Kumar finally beats the unbeatable game." He made exaggerated jazz hands. "History in the making."
Rohit's expression shifted—eyes sharpening, jaw setting. This wasn't just a game anymore. Seven years of his life. Thousands of hours. Endless failures, cryptic puzzles, impossible boss fights that made Dark Souls look like a children's birthday party.
"I'm finishing it tonight," he said quietly. "No matter what."
"And then what? You find out what happened to that crazy scientist guy?"
"Dr. Shiddhart Gupta," Rohit corrected automatically. "Four-time Nobel Prize winner. Revolutionary VR architect. He didn't just disappear—he left a message. He said the answer to everything was hidden at the end of the game."
Mohan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. 'Is this the only world?' Spooky mysterious scientist talk. What if you beat the game and the answer is just 'Thanks for playing, sucker'?"
"Then I wasted seven years of my life."
"You already did that."
Rohit punched his arm.
Kingdom X Monster.
Even the name felt heavier than it should.
Released in 2038 by G.D. Corps, it wasn't just the most advanced VR game ever made—it was alive. NPCs didn't follow scripts; they had routines, personalities, grudges. The weather changed based on in-game ecology. Kingdoms rose and fell whether you participated or not. You could be a hero, a merchant, a monster, a god. Or nothing at all.
No two players ever had the same experience.
And in seven years, no one had ever reached the ending.
The game's creator, Dr. Shiddhart Gupta, had vanished the day after launch. His final broadcast played on every screen worldwide:
"Is this world we live in... the only one in existence?"
"I sought the answer. Through science. Through creation. Through something beyond."
"Kingdom X Monster is my question—and my answer lies at its end."
"If you have the courage to face infinity itself... come find me."
Then: silence. No body. No trace. Just a game that felt too real and a mystery that consumed the world.
Governments investigated. Corporations tried to crack the code. Millions of players logged in, desperate to find the truth.
None succeeded.
But Rohit was close. So close he could taste it.
They reached Rohit's apartment building—a cramped, slightly sad structure with flickering hallway lights.
"Alright, I'm out." Mohan clapped him on the back. "Go make history, man. And when you're famous, remember the little people."
"I'll try."
"And Rohit?"
"Yeah?"
Mohan's grin turned wicked. "If you die to the final boss after seven years... I'm never letting you live it down."
"Thanks for the support."
"Anytime!"
Rohit watched him leave, then looked up at the sky one more time.
Empty. Normal. No glowing figures.
(What was that...?)
He shook his head and headed inside.
Tonight, he'd finish Kingdom X Monster.
Tonight, he'd find the answer.
He climbed the stairs two at a time, adrenaline already building.
"I'M ENDING THIS GAME TONIGHT!" he shouted into the stairwell.
His voice echoed off the concrete walls.
A door opened. Mrs. Sharma from 3B stuck her head out, glaring.
"Rohit, it's 9 PM! Some of us have children!"
"Sorry, Mrs. Sharma!"
The door slammed.
Rohit winced, hurrying to his apartment.
Far above the city, beyond the clouds, beyond sight—
—the glowing humanoid figure watched.
Waiting.
End of Chapter 1 – To Be Continued...