Maser took a swig from his canteen as he approached the summit, wishing not for the first time he’d brought something stronger to calm his nerves. But climbing a mountain at sunset wasn’t risk free at the best of times, and he couldn’t afford something as idiotic as falling down a cliff because he was drunk. Not now.

Reaching the plateau, he shielded his eyes as the sun broke through the clouds, sending rays of light over the landscape below. A crowd of fellow climbers were having a picnic nearby, apparently celebrating their successful climb, and the achievement that came with reaching the summit for the first time. His outfit was drawing some odd looks and a few laughs from the party goers, but Maser didn’t mind.

Standing at the peak, he couldn’t help but be filled with a silent reverence at the sight of the world stretching away beneath him. From the green rolling hills to the crystal waters of the sea and even the snowy caps of the surrounding peaks, it was a sight to behold. With the wind nipping at him as he stood drinking it all in, and the airs chill fighting with the newly broken sunshine, it was hard to believe it was all just a game.

Seven years ago, Genesis had first been released, a virtual reality multiplayer game set in a world of magic and dragons. Within its first month it had completely dominated the market, and within two, had shown off statistics displaying a full fifteen percent of the world population playing simultaneously. The games phenomenal success came from the revolutionary technology used by the developers. A simple looking headband and mask that, when plugged into its computer and turned on would put the wearer into a form of controlled REM sleep. Allowing for direct sensory input, this let you see, hear, taste and feel like it was real, as if you were really there and not just lying comatose on your bed.

For a while people had complained, saying that it was dangerous, that it was bad for you, that it would corrupt impressionable children. But after a year of not a single incident, even the most outspoken groups had all but given up. A game, a world, almost half as big as the real one, where you could be whoever you wanted, follow your dreams, fight monsters and explore? The lure was too strong to resist, and with such an immense player base already so attached the game, Genesis would never see anything close to competition.

Maser had been in one of the first waves of players, the first to walk on ground that felt real, and breathe in air smelling of flowers born purely out of imagination. He had spent years playing the game, joining up with parties, making friends and enemies, and experiencing things that would stay with him for the rest of his life.

But... that had been three years ago. Things had begun to stabilise throughout the games kingdoms, the evil monsters kept at bay, and everything had slowly reached a state of status quo. The game was still fun and massively popular, but something was lacking now. The quests didn’t have the same weight to them, exploring new areas became harder and things began to slow down. A lot of people he’d come to know from playing had began to drift away, the game not holding on them as tightly as it used to.

People had initially assumed that when things reached this point, the developers would step in and make some changes or create more content to keep things fresh. But once the in game economy rivalled and even dwarfed a lot of real countries, they not only didn’t want to adjust things, but they legally weren’t allowed to. All of this led to what Maser had planned for today.

It taken three months of planning, six more of rigorous testing done in secret, and another thirteen to get everything in place, but finally it was ready. Maser looked out at this virtual world he’d spent so much time in for the last seven years, and prepared himself. He’d made sure to dress up for the occasion, putting his finest suit and hat, along with an enchanted monocle so he could see and check his results more clearly. Compared to the others in their thick climbing furs, he could see why they’d laugh. But all things considered, he felt it was more important to do this with a touch of class, despite the cold damage and penalties.

Psyching himself up, he stood up on the highest rock on the plateau, named the chandelier stone, the highest point in the world, and drew out his baton. A straight piece of carved, white oak with gold inlays; it represented everything he’d worked on for the last two years, and much more besides. He began to raise it up, but hesitated, considering what he was about to do, and everything it would accomplish.

“No.” He said to himself, shaking his head to clear his mind. “It needs to be done, better this than to leave things the way they’re going.”

And with a final gesture he raised his arm and activated the baton, releasing a pale golden pulse that rapidly travelled outwards before going too far and becoming too thin to see. Moments later, music began to play, flowing out from Maser’s pocket, coming out cleanly and perfectly to cover the plateau, as it would be doing perfect harmony with all the location. He wondered whether his choice to play the 1812 overture was needed, whether it would be too much of a cliché, but in the end it had felt...right, despite the extra work it took.

His unsuspecting audience were both surprised and confused at where the music was coming from, but it quickly turned to delight as they seemed to think they were getting a special show. Waving his conductors baton around, now no more than a stick, Maser smiled, tears of joy, pain and relief rolling down his cheeks, freezing in the cold winds. His work was done now, his personal quest at an end. All of his emotion was let out, leaving him practically dancing around on the mountain top. None of it mattered anymore, nothing could be done, one way or the other.

The onlookers laughed at his antics while listening to the music, some even dancing around with him, leaving him to wonder how people were reacting elsewhere to this sudden music. But as the music began to reach its climax, their joy and contentment turned almost instantly to horror and confusion, dropping to their knees as the first explosions began.

As close to the music as Maser could manage, huge balls of flames and energy began erupting around them, lighting up the landscape as far as the eye could see. Every where he looked, the ground broke and buckled as the music played, at the force of the explosives he had made and set up over all this time. Rapidly, the world began to change beneath them. The forests became seas of flame, the lakes turned to pits of ash and mud, while the skies became filled with every creature that could try and escape the hell that the land had become.

Eventually, seeming suddenly compared to the destruction moments ago, both the music and the explosions died out leaving him standing in silence, a brief moment to catch his breath after the destruction he’d caused.

“What...what did you do? You bastard, what have you done?!”

Maser turned to see that the revellers were shaking off the shock of what they’d witnessed. They had begun getting to their feet and were starting to approach him. He was sure that in hindsight that feel lucky to have witnessed this...event, however it would later be described, from such a vantage point, having been in the right place, at the right time. But for now they wouldn’t be getting any answers from him, as he had one last piece to accomplish, having never planned to go back down this mountain.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out an intricately carved shimmering stone, his last and greatest piece. This would be his last action in the game since he knew there would be no coming back from this. Smiling to the crowd as they began to mob him, his triggered the artefact, detonating it with enough force to eliminate not only those on the mountain top, but to leave nothing but a crater where once the largest mountain had proudly stood. As the wall of force rose up to hit him, Maser’s last thoughts were of how he would miss this world he loved so much.

You have died. You will lose 1 level and 18 skill levels, based on remaining character level, chosen at random. You will now be locked out of game for 24 hours, at which point you will be able to respawn at the nearest designated respawn point.

~~~~~~

Removing the headset, Matt rubbed his eyes and checked the clock. His shift at the grocery store didn’t start till nine on Fridays, giving him three hours before he needed to leave for work, so he reset his alarm for another two. Eventually getting up, he stumbled into the kitchen, and began making some breakfast. Flicking on the news as he waited for his kettle to boil, he was unsurprised what the feature story was.

“-levels of destruction. The exact amount of damage will likely take weeks or even months to truly become apparent. The developers of Genesis, Masquerade Entertainment, had this to say: “We are sorry for the inconvenience and losses this action has caused to players, but we can assure you that the actions taken by this player were both legal, and within the rules of the game at the time. Our programmers are currently going over the exploits used, and are making alterations so that this can never be used again. We promise that these changes will either not affect, or minimally affect other players.”

The developers also went on to say that, despite the many requests and demands from various parties, they would not be revealing any information about the individual who caused the event, saying it would be a large breach of client confidentiality. This has left people with only the knowledge of the name of their killer according to the games screen, leaving many calling this “Maser’s Upheaval.” We will be bringing you more news throughout the day as things develop.”

Sipping his coffee, Matt stared blankly at the TV. Apparently the news teams were quicker than he gave them credit for, as they showed images of destroyed cities and castles from all over the games country side. Only a few hours had passed and already they’d put together panels of experts to figure out what this would mean.

While various officials were talking about the losses, both personal and financial, Matt didn’t really mind. They could say what they wanted but not only were they all generally insured, but he had destroyed game items, and killed game characters, by the games own systems. The worst they could really say is that it was extreme griefing.

Cleaning himself up in the bathroom, he looked in the mirror to see if he was acceptable. As always when he’d been playing for too long straight, there was a moment of disconnect before he accepted that the person in the mirror was him. Six foot and gangly, his short black hair stuck up as usual, making him look like a cartoon character who’d just been surprised. Eventually he got it to sit flat enough for work, and grabbed his uniform for the back of a chair.

Heading out to the car, he was surprised to see the streets busy with cars this early in the morning. Spotting his neighbour getting into his car he called out to his neighbour leaving for the day as well.

“Greg!” he called out “What’s going on today? There a show going on or something?”

Greg grunted in reply “Some little shit went and wiped everyone out didn’t they? Rudest wakeup call I’ve had in years, so figured I may as well head in early, seems like everyone else is in the same boat.”

As he pulled away, Matt actually felt somewhat responsible for the first time. He didn’t care much for the effects in game, but waking up your neighbours was always uncalled for.

The rest of day continued the same way. As he stacked shelves he heard dozens of conversations, all talking about the attack, the event or the upheaval, however the network they’d watched was spinning it. Some thought it was the developers messing around; others thought it was a group of hackers and one even claiming it was the first strike of a terrorist group. That one had come from a man buying a dozen rolls of foil while carrying a duck under one arm, shouting at the top of his lungs, so not many people were going along with that train of thought.

As the man was led away by security, Matt was left wondering how people would eventually define his actions. History is written by the victors, they say but when everyone still around afterwards, who gets to decide what happened?

This lasted for the entire week, staying as the biggest topic the news networks were covering, to the point it actually started to get on his nerves. He got that it was a big deal affecting a lot of people, and that a lot of money was tied up in it, but come on. There was real news going on that was way more important than a game, shouldn't they be covering that? Or were murders, breakthroughs and innovation not as interesting as virtual ones.

Matt was at loss for what to do for the weekend as he came home after his last evening shift for the week. Normally he’d spend most of it logged in, making preparations for his endgame, but now that it was done he was left with so much free time to kill. As he pulled up to his house, he saw that some big van had managed to park across his driveway. Swearing he found a spot to park on the road before heading inside to look for some paper to write them a note. However, as he reached for the door, he realised something wasn’t right and it was already unlocked.

Carefully, he opened the door slightly and looked inside, his phone in hand to call the police. He wasn’t sure what he expected, but a pair of large men in suits drinking tea at his kitchen table certainly wasn’t it.

“Good evening, Matthew Harper I presume?” One of them said politely, spotting him.

“Get out of my house before I call the police!” He said quickly, opening the door fully to show his phone.

“That would be... a poor decision, Mr. Harper, as we are not thieves I assure you. Rather, we work for Masquerade Entertainment.” The other man said pointedly.

“...Oh. Yeah ok that... that explains a bit, I guess.” Matt said quietly, putting his phone away.

“And by that reaction, I believe it’s safe to say that you are indeed who we were sent to collect. My name is Smith, my friend here is Thompson, and on behalf of Masquerade Entertainment, would you please come with us.”