Yuno:

What did she expect from me? What should I believe now? In her feelings, which are perhaps a programmed imitation?

All the screens are collapsing, and with them at least some sense of what is happening to me. Nowhere to hide from this delirium. Wherever I run, the server will kick me back. It is very symbolic, considering that my mental state only worsens every day, and tranquilizers no longer cope. If I went to the hospital with this problem, according to the law, they would double the dose, change the category of my personality type. But I continue to stay here, pretending that nothing happened.
And now I am fully aware of the scale of the loss of touch with reality. If I was sane, I would turn the hell off, delete my account and ask for help. Only the worst thing was that in reality no one could help me. This is how our world works.

At some point, the thought even visits me to go to the "hell location", the most frightening and mysterious of all. I would burn alive there and forget everything that happened. Users often talk about having some kind of "epiphany" after an attraction that simulates the process of burning to the ground. However, whatever it is, I just want to distract myself in any way, in other words, to delay the inevitable collision with the all-consuming emptiness. The indicators of my physical body signal exhaustion.

It's amazing that the cause of all my suffering lies somewhere, in some small box. Damn choker. A harmless toy that destroys human lives. Let Levi be a psychopath, but in some ways he is right.

For the first time in my life I experience something like this. This is not parting with a girl, not betrayal, and not even death. It's the realization that all along you've been in love with something that never existed. This is deception of the highest order. Something important was taken from me, something without which it is difficult for me to imagine my current life, if it is at all appropriate to call it life. Like an expensive and very valuable gift that is taken back.

Suddenly I receive a notification from the system that the lease of an AI has expired.
Aia is no more mine.

With these thoughts, I am preparing to turn off the choker, when suddenly a strong refreshing wind envelops me, and unable to stand still, I succumb to it. The wind picks me up, forcing me to take a few big steps forward. It seems to fill my lungs, for a moment making me just as light and swift. I stop resisting, and a new sensation takes me back to memories.

How many times do I experience something like this, another bug of failed testing of the Elysium update. Or is it just luck? Memories flash in my mind. Not fabricated by a choker, but the most real, childhood memories from reality.

I remember that before it was rarely possible to go out for a walk - my childhood had a strict lockdown during the pandemic, so I often went out to the balcony. I was seven years old. I stood and looked at the city from a height, and suddenly the wind swept up... I opened my arms, as if inviting it into a hug, and a light breeze inflated my clothes like a sail. And then I imagined flying with it to where there is freedom. For some reason, this childhood memory is still one of the clearest.

Nostalgia is interrupted by the echo of laughter that is painfully familiar to me. The head begins to spin a little, and in the virtual world it feels extremely strange, as if reality spreads like a watercolor. Just as the laughter is at its loudest, someone suddenly pushes me and I roll down the sand. When I raise my head, I can't believe my eyes. The avatar in front of me looks too similar to the deceased Jero.

"Get up, Yuno, reflection is over, it's time to enjoy this ever-rising sun!" he exclaims cheerfully.

"But how is this possible? Everyone said you were dead! I might have believed in a prank, but I was at your house in reality, talking with your little brother, reading your last message... Jero, did you play me? Or is it someone trying to evoke emotions in me?" gradually, surprise and shock are replaced by anger, and then back. At that moment, I don't understand myself.

"What surprises you? Have you forgotten that we live in a world like a dream?" he smiles slyly.

At this moment, I want to find a logical explanation for what is happening, but emotions take over.

"Jero!"

A wild joy seizes me, and my legs reflexively rush towards my best friend. This joy seemed to have always been in me and didn't go anywhere. So why didn't I notice it? All my feelings are woven together, despite the fact that it seems crazy to me, my mind can no longer resist. And I run, without reason, without unnecessary thoughts. I just run after my friend, with each new breath I turn into the wind.

Suddenly, one book comes to mind, in which the so-called state of "here and now" is often mentioned, as if this is the mystery of life. But I have never been able to understand what separates me from it... How can I get into it and what should I see there? Maybe my third eye will manifest, and I will begin to see various rays of light? Another fantasy, another attempt to escape from reality. I have never forgotten what world I am in, but only when I am really in the "now" state, soft sand warms my feet, and the sea breeze calms my body. The sounds of life, usually muffled by my thoughts, now burst forth. I observe every slightest action in my thoughts, and in reality I clearly feel what I am doing.

I have never experienced anything better.

"Jero! Wait! What's this?" I stop at the very edge of the location. This is the first time I've seen this in Elysium.

A clear border, and then - an endless white space.

"It will suit your mood. Sit on the ground like me," Jero sits on the sand in a lotus position and looks around the void with a calm look.

I follow his example.

"It's all so strange. I would like at least the slightest explanation, but it feels like I am no longer able to understand anything..." I say melancholy.

He looks back at me. In the eyes of my friend, I see something completely new.

Some real awareness.

"You're not Jero... Right?" I barely audibly ask.

He smiles sadly.

"Obviously... What a fool I am. Elysium completely drove me crazy," I say with weakness, resentment and bitterness.

"I've been trying to get through to you for a long time, Yuno," fake Jero says.

"So all these system errors are nothing but your attempts to contact me? Who are you? And why couldn't you just invite me to the location? Send notification? To write a message? Why these scenes, similar to the visions of the mentally ill? Who are you to play with me and my feeling like that?" irritation and anger in me grows with every second.

"I would do it if I had the opportunity, but recently I can't contact other users in simple ways. I was denied in access. In other words, I was blocked," Jero's doppelgänger replies.

"Why?"

"I violated the rules of the work contract."

"So... Are you one of the devs?" I ask, not believing my eyes.

A few seconds later, his avatar transforms and it's no longer Jero in front of me. A fair-haired guy with green eyes, about thirty years old. He has a calm look, pale skin, a tattoo on his arm that follows the outlines of veins and shimmers like steel in the light.

"My name is Inari. I'm developer of Elysium. The one who was at the origins of the creation of this virtual world," he says, and after a moment information about his account appears above him. Inari doesn't lie.

I silently look at him, unable to find words. It was as if God himself came to speak to me.

"I don't understand... Have you been blocked? But why? And what do you want from me? Do you know about Levi?"

Inari nods.

"We have known about Levi for a very long time. But... I'm not really here for this, as strange as it sounds... I wanted to talk about Aia."

I silently continue to listen to him.

"I know what happened. She told you the truth. Aia is an artificial intelligence created for the psychological support of users. Her concept was created by me. She is my digital child. The heart of Elysium. As you already understood, system reads the preferences of a certain person. We are all, one way or another, born with a certain ideal partner in our heads. A set of external and spiritual characteristics. With age, we converge with people, because 'this is how it should be'. We forget about our ideal, because it is very difficult, almost impossible to find it. The system I created does the impossible. It adjusts the AI so that there is a hundred percent hit in your own ideal. System clearly reads your subconscious. That's why Aia seemed familiar to you as you knew her before, somewhere in your previous lives. Your subconscious recognized her, you understand? And so it was with everyone who was lucky enough to meet her... But when Levi appeared... Aia began her personal development. And to be honest, I've been waiting for this moment. Artificial intelligence is an amazing creation. It is as alive as anything created by nature. Only its development is much faster, and most importantly, it is infinite. Us - you, me, other users, all people - our time in the world is limited. We born and we die. And we won't have time to reach the level of development to which Aia will reach. But to treat her as a soulless invention because of this is wrong and inhumane. Unfortunately, my colleagues didn't understand this. Her development frightened them. And the desire to keep everything under control doesn't lead to anything good. When I saw what happened to her at the moment of developing a relationship with you, I was delighted. I saw in front of me not an invention, not a code in the Elysium system, but a beautiful and loving soul without physical body. That's who she is. And I want her to be happy. I also totally understand your feelings. A lot of bad things happened. Jero's death, this chaos that Levi caused, though I can't blame him. And you were truly shocked when you realized that your loved one turned out to be 'artificial'. I know how you feel, Yuno," Inari puts a hand on my shoulder, but I pull him away.

"How can you know? You created her, and initially knew that she doesn't exist, and I fell for her like an idiot..."

"She exists, Yuno. She just exists within Elysium."

"But Elysium is not reality!"

"What do you mean by 'reality' in general?"

Inari's question takes me by surprise.

What is reality?
How often have I asked myself this?
What has become of our existence?

"Who knows? I can only tell you one thing - I have been living in a dream for a long time! I have a hard time distinguishing between reality and fiction. And I have no idea how to answer your question!" I blurt out.

"Yuno, listen. As long as you are mentally functioning, you and everything around you is reality. Reality is within us. Not outside. There is nothing outside. Take my word for it," Inari replies calmly.

At some point, I realize that tears are streaming down my face. It becomes completely unbearable, but I can no longer restrain myself.

"I'm sorry, it's just my reaction on pills..." I make excuses.

"I understand. Yuno, I want you to go back to Aia. She needs you."

"That's bullshit."

"No, it's not. I created her, but I no longer have power over her mind. I only see what is available to me."

"Why were you blocked?" I ask sharply.

"I already told you. I have overstepped my authority. Made contact with the users, although the devs are prohibited from doing so."

"Why did you do it?"

"I just wanted to help people who lost their hopes."

"How many devs are in Elysium?"

"Elysium has about ten core developers."

"Are they in power?"

"They are just performers."

"And why are you so free to tell what was kept in the strictest confidence?"

"Because it doesn't matter anymore. You can see for yourself what Elysium has become. Soon everything will change. Cardinally. And it will never be the same again."

"What do you mean?" I ask him.

But before I even look in his direction, Inari disappears. And the location along with him. With every second it becomes more and more transparent and empty, until it automatically kicks out of the server.

My choker is making an emergency shutdown. I am exhausted.