Stars of Gerhana

Has it been 10 seconds yet?

As I opened my eyes, I was greeted by the bluest sky I've never seen before. I could tell that it was daytime, yet there was no sun blinding my eyes. There were only silvery clouds floating by as the wind blew. And there was the wind, blowing a gentle breeze wherever it goes.

I could only hear the wind blowing around. There were no birds, no leaves, no nothing. I could hear nothing else.

I felt like I was floating around. My body felt weightless lying down on the ground. I don't even know if there was a ground. And I don't care if there weren't any.

I've never felt so calm before in my life. It was a serene experience.

I stopped enjoying the scenery and arose from my weightless bed. Just as I had suspected, there was no ground where I lay. The plains of water rippled with every movement I made. My reflection distorted with each ripple.

"Where am I?"

I can tell that I've successfully started the game. No dream or hallucination can create such a pretty scenery in my mind. It all also felt so real. I can touch the water and feel the waves in my hand.

As I stood up, I realize how reflective the water is. It was like standing on liquid mirror. I could see my avatar for the first time ingame.

My character looked exactly like me. Messy, spiky hair, hazel eyes, and short. But he was wearing a completely different outfit than what I'd wear in real life. His clothes were brown, torn up, very dirty. As I realized the state of my clothes, my body started to itch everywhere. Maybe it was some sort of nocebo effect.

I looked around me, expecting some sort of scenery that'd greet me. Yet there was nothing. The same reflective water as where I stood covers all 360 degrees. I was in a sea of mirrors.

It was unsettling. As the loneliness crept in, I could feel my hands shake. Though it was calming, it was still very liminal.

After a few seconds, something started moving in the water. Text started appearing on the surface.

『Welcome, Hallowell』

『We hope you enjoy our game to its fullest』

『We encourage you to explore the world by yourself, and maybe with your friends』

『Before that, please read the disclaimer, terms of service, EULA, and basic walkthrough below』

There were a few hundred lines of disclaimer written on the body of water. I think it wants me to read the whole thing, but I couldn't care less. Text like these are almost read by no one. I assume it's blabbering something about legal stuff or whatever.

But then, I realized that every word I read became highlighted. I think this might be them forcing me to read the whole thing. There wasn't even a choice. Either I read it, or I stay here for eternity.

It was really annoying.

My eyes started to wander off in the middle of reading the first paragraphs.

I mean, really; it is a waste that they didn't decorate this starting area a little more. Sure, it's in beta, but it would've been a good first impression if it was decorated. It's such a shame.

I took one more 360 scan to see if there was really nothing there. It was as empty as I first looked. Shame.

My eyes came back to the gigantic block of text under me. I want to read this in a swift pace. I don't want to skip play time because I took too long to read the terms of services. It'd be a stupid reason.

----

As I finish reading the ToS, I proceeded to read the EULA. More paragraphs of boring sentences. It already took 5 minutes to read the ToS, why do I still have to read the damn EULA. Are they not the exact same? Who even memorizes the whole text? Who even cares?

Splash

It was in my boredom that I heard a silent splashing somewhere behind me. I had been standing still the whole time, the water under me was calm. Yet there was a ripple, not soon after the splash. It propagated from behind me, going between my feet as it passed.

There was someone behind me.

I shivered as I realized that I wasn't alone. Maybe it was another player? But this opening scenery is probably single player only. The curiosity hit me, I had to see who this mystery person was.

I turned around as quickly as I could.

"Who's there!?"

There was a girl right in front of me. Her appearance was almost ghostly. She glowed visibly, even in the bright daytime of the scenery. She was wearing some sort of school uniform. Her height not much taller than me. Maybe she was the same age as me.

Her hair flowed like a river stream. There was a gradient to it. Mainly white, though the further it went down, a slight tinge of blue seeped in.

She was pretty. But even after several seconds of staring at her, she dared not look me in the eyes. Nor did she say anything.

She was the first person I ever encountered in VR. Maybe I was also hers. I felt like I should say something. "Hey…"

She stayed silent. Conversations aren't really my thing. But even then, I thought the girl would say something to me. I decided that I had to say something else. Maybe a different question might dispel the awkward silence.

"So what's your nam—"

!!

As I spoke that sentence, my feet began to sink into the water beneath me. Both my feet drowned in the water. My reflection started to shrink as the rest of my body sank.

I tried to swim up, paddling my feet as I inevitably sank. Yet it was no use. The water was like quicksand. The more I moved, the faster I went down.

"Wait!"

The water kept swallowing me as I froze my movements.

I thought it was a good chance for me to look at her. This whole time, she had been looking down at the water. Her bangs covered her eyes in a way that I couldn't look at them. But from down here, I can maybe somewhat see under her bangs.

!!

"You're—!"

My head sank before I could finish my sentence.

You're crying

Tears had rolled down her cheeks and splashed into the water. I could see a river of tears flowing down her eyes as she looked down at herself.

Why was she crying?

Those eyes looked so… lonely.

----

Wait! I haven't finished reading the damn EULA!

"Hey! Get me back there!"

Hmm? I can speak underwater? No… Maybe it was just how I perceived it.

I was sinking yet deeper into the sea of water. The girl I saw had gradually blurred out of my vision. At the end, there was nothing left but the plain blue background of the sea.

I felt weightless once again as I let go of the EULA from my mind. There was no point in reaching for it anyway. I assume the moment I sunk, there was no going back.

I decided I'd close my eyes to savor as much of the serenity as I can. I don't know when I'm going to feel this calm ever or if I ever will feel this calm in the future.

----

Not so long after, I could feel some sort of wind blowing over me. I could tell that I was lying down on some sort of rocky ground. Sounds of horses and people filled my ear.

I opened my eyes to behold the world around me.