I sit cross-legged in the dark, my back pressed against a wall stained with ramen broth and regret.
Real aesthetic, right?
The flicker of my monitor glides over empty bottles scattered like defeated NPCs. Cold air slips in through my half-broken window. The room smells like instant noodles and crushed dreams—your standard otaku cologne.
No messages.
No missed calls.
Not even a "Yo, you alive?" text.
Just me… and the silence I somehow promoted to roommate.
Funny thing about life—you grow up thinking something magical is waiting for you. Then one day you realize the closest you've ever gotten to magic is watching anime in 720p because premium is for people who aren't broke.
Everything feels like a loading screen that never ends.
Parents stopped calling.
I lost my job because I "looked too tired to talk to customers."
Friends drifted away like they pressed logout on me.
So my brilliant plan?
Escape into games.
One last hurrah before I completely disappear.
I brush crumbs off my hoodie and sigh.
"Let's see if today's the day I finally get something right," I mutter, powering up my VR-AI pod—the only thing I own that costs more than my rent and dignity combined. (Bought it at a yard sale, but still.)
Welcome to Aetheria Online, a calm female voice hums.
Aetheria.
The world where I'm not a loser.
Where I don't flinch when someone talks to me.
Where I can be anything—warrior, mage, god…
Or just someone who doesn't suck.
The helmet clicks into place. My heart bumps faster—not excitement, just that tiny ember of hope that refuses to die.
"New season. New account. New roll."
Most players grab the free beginner pack.
Not me.
Playing it safe is for people who have something to lose.
I have nothing.
Risk feels comforting.
Logging in… Syncing neural data… Welcome, player: SaiJi94.
"Alright, fate. Spin for me."
Lately Aetheria had been… off. Patch notes disappearing, certain NPCs saying lines no one remembered coding, a weird hush in dev forums. But I didn't think anything of it.
Should've.
The loading screen dissolves into golden mist. I stand in the Hall of Origin—newbies screaming over loot drops, spamming screenshots like they're praying to a pixel god.
But I stand still.
Something about the air feels heavier.
Like the game is holding its breath.
A priestess NPC approaches—violet eyes, soft glow, too perfect to be random generation. For a moment her image flickers—barely, like a single pixel misbehaving—then stabilizes.
"Welcome, traveler," she says, voice warm but… off-sync. "You have one spin of fate. Will you claim it?"
A chill crawls up my spine. I nod anyway.
She gestures to the massive gacha orb overflowing with loot icons and divine dopamine.
"Remember," she says, her voice splitting for half a second, "what is pulled cannot be undone."
Weird line.
But whatever.
I hit SPIN.
Blue.
Purple.
Gold.
Crimson—
Then—
BLACK.
The orb doesn't fade.
It shatters.
Into pieces that fly upward like gravity rage-quit.
The hall glitches.
NPC faces smear like corrupted files.
Buildings melt into scenes I've never seen.
My pod trembles like it wants to eject me.
ERROR: Asset ID #666: Werewolf_King_Legendary.exe has been released.
…Huh?
The priestess stumbles back, terror flaring in her eyes—real fear.
"You… you're not supposed to exist."
The world distorts—symbols spin, voices whisper, fragments of code lash around me—
Then pain detonates through my body.
Bones twist.
Muscles tear and regrow.
Fur erupts across my skin.
My jaw stretches, fangs scraping a scream I can't release.
System Override: Sai Ji has merged with NPC Template — Werewolf King.
The sky turns red.
Something ancient, monstrous, hungry claws up from inside me—
—and darkness slams everything shut.
Cold, damp soil meets my skin when I wake.
Wind brushes my… snout?
My vision snaps open—too sharp.
I can see dew trembling on leaves meters away.
Hear birds beating their wings miles off.
Smell blood—fresh, close.
I try to stand.
No hands.
Claws.
Thick, furred arms wrapped in dark silver muscle. Steam curls from my nostrils.
"What… what is this?"
I stagger toward a lake, instincts guiding me.
The surface ripples—
A towering wolf-man stares back.
Molten gold eyes.
Fangs like daggers.
Shoulders built to break kingdoms.
A crown of bone and iron curling from my skull.
The Werewolf King.
"No way…" My voice is deep, rough, inhuman.
A word rises unbidden in my mind:
Alpha.
This wasn't a cosmetic glitch.
It merged me with the top-tier raid boss.
But… why me?
Snap.
A branch breaks.
Two figures emerge—cloaked in wolf hide. Both freeze when they see me.
Then they kneel.
The first, a huge man with stoic eyes and a hammer of iron-root, bows his head.
"Alpha. You've returned."
The second, a sharp-eyed woman with twin bone blades, grins with feral relief.
"The bloodline endures. We knew you'd rise again."
NPCs.
Yet they look at me like I've existed for centuries.
"Who… are you?" I manage.
"We are your sworn—Fen and Lura," Fen rumbles, voice like distant thunder.
"We combed the wilds for signs of your rebirth," Lura says. "Now… it begins again."
I have no idea what they're talking about.
But my body does.
My instincts do.
Like I've been here before.
Three distant howls echo across the forest—hungry, territorial.
Fen rises instantly. "Dire Wolf scouts. Wild. Desperate."
"They smell your awakening," Lura snarls. "Kill, or be hunted."
My heartbeat thumps—not fear.
Excitement.
The HUD flickers:
[WOLF SENSE – Passive Skill Activated]
Threats detected: 3 (Feral Dire Wolves – Level 22)
Territory Invasion — Alpha Response Required
"What the hell…"
But I already know where they are.
Their scents.
Their footsteps.
Their hunger.
I leap.
The forest becomes a blur—violent, perfect movement.
A Dire Wolf lunges from the side. I twist mid-air, catching its throat with one claw. Bones crack like twigs.
Instinct ignites.
I tear it open.
No hesitation.
No tutorial.
Just the king of predators reclaiming his throne.
Lura carves through another with clean precision.
Fen crushes the last with a single swing.
Blood steams on the ground.
My fur drips red.
And instead of guilt, I feel…
Alive.
"What… was that?" I whisper.
"Your first hunt, my king," Lura says proudly.
"A flawless kill," Fen adds. "Word will spread. The Alpha walks again."
I stare at the blood on my claws.
I wasn't playing the Werewolf King.
I was becoming him.
And Aetheria—this beautiful, glitching, dangerous world—
was about to learn exactly what happens when the boss wakes up.
Far in the distance…
something enormous howls back.
The world shifted- then everything went black