Darkness was everywhere, it blinded him and made him not able to see a mere inch in front of him.

It was cold, not cold enough to make him freeze to death. But cold enough that it made his skin prickle and his hair to stand on attention. He was pretty sure his eyes were open, but the darkness made it impossible for him to decide if this was actually the case or not.

The darkness was like its name, darkness. It was not black, no, that would indicate that he can see it. It was something more sinister, something that even light can’t get to.

His body was numb, he didn’t know if he had hands or if just nubs. If he had feet or just imaginary feet.

Slowly, very slowly, he started to feel parts of his body. He felt his fingers, there were ten, then he felt his feet and they were okay too. Gradually he started to feel his whole body.

Then like lightning a blinding light lit in the never-ending darkness. The light pierced his eyes, and made him scream in agony. He opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out of it. It was like sound disappeared from the world. The pain he felt made him thrash and spasm.

Finally, the light covered him, and Rhax finally felt relaxed. The pain he felt disappeared. And in its place a warm aura covered him, it was like he was back in his mother’s womb again. He wanted to curl and sleep there for eternity. He closed his eyes to sleep. But then he felt his body, it was not the same as before. He felt like his body was laying down on a shabby thing and was tied by something.

Rhax still had his eyes closed, it was too hard for him to open them. The air around him smelt of steel. It smelt of wood and burned coal.

Rhax felt like he was too weak to open his eyes, so he just laid there. It was a little hard for him to move his body. And honestly, a little painful. So, he laid still for some time.

He heard something creek, and he estimated that it was the door to the room he was in. Soft footsteps echoed in the silent room. Rhax can tell that the person visiting him was a small one. Maybe even a child.

He heard the owner of the footprints walk around the room, so he decided to groan to bring attention to himself. “Agh!”

The person gasped and shrieked. “Ser Rhax! You are awake!” Rhax recognized the childish voice.

“Olivia?” His voice sounded weird to him; it was the voice of someone who hadn’t spoken for some time.

He felt Olivia come beside his bed. “Yes, it is me.” Her voice was like someone who was crying. “I…I thought you would die….” Rhax now clearly heard the sobbing coming from her.

He wanted to comfort the girl, but it was very painful for him to move, thus the only support he could generate was verbal. “Shush, it is okay, I’m not dead. A mere Direwolf can’t kill me.” Rhax was aware of how stupid the statement was, but he has to give the girl something, or else she will continue crying.

“That is true, Ser Rhax is a legend! He killed a Direwolf with his own bare hands!” Another voice shouted, Rhax recognized the voice, it was Olivia’s older brother, Adam.

“Adam? You are alive.” Rhax said before going into a spiral of coughing.

“Come on kids, let Ser Rhax rest, he has been in a fight most people would not come back from.” A gentle voice commanded; it was gentle but firm at the same time. Rhax had an idea on who it was, but the kids' reactions confirmed it. “Yes, mother.” Adam and Olivia said at the same time.

Rhax felt the spot padding on the ground again, then he heard the door creek shut. The moment the door was closed Rhax felt his consciousness slip away from him.

He felt his eyes close against his will, he gave himself to the sweet release of sleep. He thought that he would go again to that sweet place, the darkness he was in earlier. But to his astonishment, he felt a very familiar cushion under him. He opened his eyes and saw the outline of his capsule. He has been logged out!

But why? He certainly doesn’t think it has been a long time since he logged in. He took his phone from its resting place in the capsule to see what time it was. “Holy fuck! I have been in the game for a whole day!?” Marcus screamed.

It read on his phone that it was 22:00 Saturday. He entered Ethea approximately the same time yesterday. ‘So, it seems 24 hours is the maximum hours a person can log in this new Ethea.’ Before, it was only 12 hours, but this update changed everything. It was like it was a new game entirely.

After getting over the initial shock of the event, he checked his phone to see if he got any messages or phone calls. His home screen was empty, and the picture of the Direwolf Ghost from the series A Song of Ice and Fire stood undisturbed.

“Hol up a second, I just fought a Direwolf, I fought Ghost’s cousin, and won.” Marcus almost danced, but there was not enough space for him to dance. He couldn’t think about this when he was fighting the Direwolf, because he was fighting for his life. But now when he is in no danger, he can see it clearly. He fought a Direwolf, and won!

He loves A Song of Ice and Fire; it is his favorite book series ever. It was an old series, it started in 1996. It is one of the most popular series ever. And he was born in the start of the 2000:s, so he experienced the show that was produced out of it. Loved it at first, then hated its guts. Lost all love for the series, then his father, who was an OG fan of the books recommended him to read the books and he did. Needless to say, it became his favorite, and he was there to buy the sixth and the seventh books when they dropped. He stood in line with his father to buy them.

So, him seeing a Direwolf for his own eyes is very emotional to him. Because his favorite character has a Direwolf and he is a big fan of Ghost the Direwolf.

After he calmed down from his emotional state, he immediately noticed that his bladder was going to explode. So, with a speed he didn’t know he had, he got out of the capsule and ran in his apartment to his bathroom.

“Ah, this feels amazing.” He sighed after getting out of the bathroom.

“Gurrr!”

His stomach begged for food. “Guess this is natural, I haven’t eaten in 24 hours.” He rubbed his stomach area while walking into his kitchen. He lives in an apartment by himself, it is not that big of an apartment, but it is certainly big for him. The apartment is for two people, but he lives alone so there is a lot of empty space.

He has a spare bedroom; he is using it as storage. His kitchen was built to be as comfortable as it can so two people can work in it at the same time.

“Thank god, I had good insight and made me some batches of food to eat.” Marcus was not stupid, he knew that when he would log out then he will be starving, so he made food in advance. Then he just microwaves it then boom, chicken and rice with white sauce ready!

He brought his bowl of chicken and rice to his living room. The living room wasn’t barren, it had a whole set of black sofas he bought. A coffee table was in front of the biggest sofa, the same one stood facing his 40-inch Tv.

He set down his bowl and his bottle of water and opened the Tv on his favorite channel. Ethea Now!

This was the channel where everything about Ethea was broadcast. On the screen was a male, he seemed to be in his twenties. He was talking with a female; she was wearing a female work suit. Marcus recognized her as the host of the daily news report. He didn’t know her name, but she was a good reporter.

“So, can you please explain to us what are the new changes in Ethea?” She asked the casually dressed man sitting to the left side.

The man was blonde, he looked Caucasian, had blue eyes and a charming smile. Marcus recognized him immediately, how could he not? This was Steven Young, or as he is known in the online community, Raven. He is one of the biggest streamers of Ethea on the internet. He was a beta tester, and was at level 26 before the update.

This was high, because the XP needed to only level up from lv.1 to lv.2 was 100 XP. Then it doubles by 5X. So, from lv.2 to lv.3 was 500 XP. And the monsters and missions don’t give much XP. So, him being lv.26 was something astronomical.

“Yeah, Jessica, what can I say?” Steven had his signature smile on, and addressed Jessica, the news reporter. “A lot of things happened, where can I start? Let's start with the most important one for me, so, everybody was reset to level 1 and are classless now. Meaning, that my previous level of 26 as a Rogue is nothing now. Now I got to level up again, but from what I understood it will be more fun than the previous Experience system.”

Jessica contemplated Steven’s words for a moment then asked. “What is your emotion about the change? And do you think players will stop playing the game? Especially after the news that the pain simulator is now at a realistic level. And it has been tested as I have seen on the internet, a lot of players who have gone into battle and got injured were complaining about how painful it was. Some even went to a hospital.” Jessica pushed her glasses in, Marcus really liked her way of asking questions. In her past statement she delivered a low punch to the Outlaws developing team.

“Good job Jessica!” Marcus shouted at the Tv.

He liked the low punch she delivered to the Outlaws. He, after all, experienced the pain she was talking about. The faint pain in his face and right shoulder was still there even when he logged out.

It was not that unbearable, but it will definitely make life harder for the next period of time, until it disappears.

Steven’s smile was gone from his face. “I won’t say that I’m particularly happy with the change, especially with the pain simulator thing. I think it is dangerous, but what can I say. Danger is my middle name.” The signature smile was back on.

“But seriously, the pain simulator is pretty dangerous, and I know a lot of people will leave Ethea because of it. But in my opinion, it only makes Ethea better, now Ethea feels more real, you feel me?” Jessica only nodded her head indicating she was following what he was saying.

“Yes, even the NPC, my God,” Steven looked really excited. “Even the NPC feel like real beings, the way they talk, move, think. If I don't know better, I would say that Ethea is another world we are entering using our minds.” Steven shared a laugh with Jessica at his last comment.

They then started going over everything that changed because of the update, not a lot changed in terms of the world, but a lot changed for the players.

The good thing was that the time didn’t change, a day in the real world still equals 2 days in Ethea.

Marcus ate his food; he winced every time he moved his right arm. The pain was still stinging him. But he couldn’t eat with his left, he was right-handed and hasn’t learned to eat with his left.

He thought of entering Ethea after finishing his meal, he then entered the bathroom to dispose of his previous meal. But then something came to his mind before he can log in. “Ah, let’s do it now, so I can have the next day free.” Saying that, he took out his laptop and opened his term plans. He had to plan for his lecture on Monday.

What he loved about his job was that he only had 4 lectures in a week. One on Monday for all the first years, then on Tuesday for the second year, Wednesday he is free, Thursday for the third year and then Friday for the fourth year. Each lecture is 2 hours, so, basically, he is at the university for 8 hours a week. If his students want to ask him a question then they would send him an email. It is a lot more effective this way, better than the office hours thing.

Also, the good thing is, he teaches at a very high-end university here in California, meaning that his salary is very good. Maybe it is not enough for him to live all out, but it is still enough for him who lives alone. His parents are retired and are living in his birth state, Michigan. So, he has only himself to care for, which is not that hard, he doesn’t need a lot of things to live by.

“Hmm, it seems it is time for us to talk about 2020 and the years that followed it.” Marcus was 15 at the start of 2020. He still remembers that accursed year. WWIII almost broke out in the first month, then a pandemic hit the whole world.

Marcus was one of the believers that 2020 was the year where everything ends. And to his defense, he was 15. But the events that happened that year didn’t help in making him disbelieve.

So, with the general idea in mind, Marcus started adjusting his presentation accordingly. He was mumbling throughout the process. “Fucking 2020, thought that I would escape you, but here you are coming to ruin my time again.”

He loves his job, he really does. But sometimes he wishes he became a religion professor instead. At least there he doesn’t have to talk about Crypto currency and how important it was to the history of mankind.