Chapter 5: Choose Your Path
6:50 PM
After finishing his meal and cleaning up the dishes, Adyr returned to his room. It was a small space—just enough for a single bed, a wardrobe, and a modest desk.
On the desk sat a battered laptop gifted by his university, two half-melted candles, and the game helmet Selina had sent him, now carefully packed back into its box, waiting to be returned.
For a teenage boy, the room was almost unnaturally simple, tidy, and clean.
He sat on the edge of his bed, holding the other helmet—the one Victor had sent—and glanced at the time.
"Ten minutes until the power cut... and the game launch," he muttered.
In low-income districts like theirs, scheduled blackouts were common—a measure enforced by the city to conserve energy. Still, the fact that the launch of the most anticipated game in decades coincided with one of these outages felt... off.
He picked up the instruction manual resting next to him and flipped through it. There wasn't a single word about the game itself—just technical data and safety guidelines.
Following the instructions, he powered up the device.
A small digital display lit up near the base of the helmet, reading: 100%. According to the manual, that meant the internal battery was fully charged, enough for approximately three hours of use.
It meant that after three hours of gameplay, he'd have to wait until morning for the electricity to return, just to recharge the helmet if he wanted to keep playing.