Open World: A LitRPG Story

Chapter One

Am I dead?

The thought seemed to bounce both in front of and behind me. It echoed silently through space. I couldn't feel my body, but I knew that I was suspended somehow, somewhere.

What is that?

The small cross-shaped reticle blinked on and off for an eternity in the darkness in front of me. It wasn't so much black as it was blank. I had the distinct feeling that I was in a void. I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't see anything but the blinking reticle.

Where am I?

I scoured my brain for any memory that might help me pinpoint my location. I couldn't think of any possible explanation for what was happening to me. The reticle continued to blink in a steady off and on rhythm.

I moved my head to the left; at least I thought I was moving my head to the left. Although I couldn't see anything out in the space in front of me, I got the sensation that the reticle reacted to the direction I turned my head.

Did that reticle just move?

I moved my head to the right. Still nothing came into view, but I sensed that I was looking to the right and that the reticle was tracking my eyes. I looked back left and then up and down. I waved my hands out in front of me. It was so dark that I couldn't see them.

The reticle flickered and then became solid, not blinking off again.

Okaaaay... that's a change...

I still had no clue what I had gotten myself into, but I felt confident that I was connected to some sort of VR headset or something. I'd never tried it before because of my motion sickness. Just thinking about all that light, color, and game action swirling all around made me queasy.

I reached up to confirm that I was wearing a VR visor, but instead, my thumb poked into my right eye.

OWWWW! Dang, it!

My eye watered for a few minutes as I hung there in the blank space. Just as I was about to go into full-on panic mode, I thought I noticed a pinpoint of light way off in the distance.

A star?

I couldn't tell what it was, and I wasn't even sure I actually saw it. Was my previously poked eye playing tricks on me? After a few minutes of blinking back tears, waiting for my eye to stop burning, and staring into nothingness, I decided that there was indeed a tiny little point of light way out there in the darkness.

After a while, another one blinked into existence. This one was a little bigger and was flickering the way stars do, so I decided that it was indeed a star.

A few moments later, another star appeared. Then another and another. They continued to appear like this for at least five minutes. The speed of their appearance increased with each new star's arrival until I couldn't distinguish any single star's arrival. In just a few minutes, the whole space around me filled with the most beautiful starry night I had ever seen.

Wow.

I was so mesmerized by this spectacular display of cosmic light that I hadn't noticed the reticle. It hit me: the tiny crosshair indicator was actually moving as I moved my eyes up and down. It followed me as I looked left and right.

Although it was still dark all around me, the stars out in front of me allowed me to feel the unmistakable sensation that I was controlling the reticle.

Am I in some sort of Space Simulator?

A shooting star sizzled across the sky in front of me. It hissed as it zipped across space in front of me.