A pod sealed around Yanis, and the world went dark.
"Welcome, Mr Yanis Montgomery."
He lay still, breathing as evenly as he could manage, when he heard the voice lull through his shroud.
The inflatable internals of the pod pressed in around him as the startup sequence began. It felt more like he was being submerged in a something very unpleasant than the sensation of soft pillows or being over a bed, as it was apparently meant to feel like. Nobody in the advertisements had mentioned that it would feel like laying in thick gel. They should have mentioned sick, slimy gel!
Especially when, for the price of a Shroud, regardless of whether he had floundered his way into ownership of one, he expected soft pillows.
Julius was the only one that had given him some hint of this unpleasantness. He had described it as "drowning without the part where you actually drowned", and Yanis had only vaguely nodded along at the time, without believing him; drowning felt like an uncharitable word for something meant to be the greatest promised joy, from a company making obscene amounts of money.
'It can't be that bad. It's just a cushioned pod. I think I'll manage without... drowning.' Those were the words he had then said to Julius.
"I am Hecate, your dedicated assistant as a Beyond player," The voice, meanwhile, continued as he lingered in reminiscence.
And now, suspended in the dark with the buzz of machinery coursing through him, he didn't like that he now understood what Julius had meant.
He considered shifting for comfort, but thought better of it. If he moved, he might disturb the startup sequence.
Still, he continued to wonder, how could it be that a first initialization experience, even if mandatory, could be so uncomfortable?
'It's been half a year,' He thought, stomaching the groping, 'surely so many would have complained by now that something would have been done about it, no?'
"Kindly, remain still."
Yanis was forced to find shame, his brows furrowed as he shut his eyes, and he tried harder to resist the urge to adjust himself, as he sighed, "Apologies."
Thereupon, a vibration deepened into his teeth as the inflation of the internals hugged his figure tighter. The shuddering buzzed down his torso and into his legs. Then his skin went electric throughout his body.
"Initialization complete."
He heard Hecate's voice as the pressure began to ease from the short increase in intensity.
'Ugh, finally!'
The vibrations tapered off, then the electric feeling across his skin fell dormant. And at last, the cushioning became pleasant. The pillows of the pod became so soft to lay on, it were as if he were floating over the surface of water with his back, and perhaps, he understood from this, why the login command was named as it had been.
"Souse."
Between the moment that he spoke and the next, Yanis felt as if that sensation of being amidst water intensified significantly.
It hit like a ship against an iceberg, and he cursed manufacturing once more! He had been wrong. Laying in the sensation of gel wasn't the drowning Julius had been talking about!
Despite laying over cushioning, he was wholly convinced that he was suddenly forced down from the surface into the depths of an ocean that he had only been playing over the shallow end of.
Then in that same space between moments, he felt himself drift out of consciousness. It was like when one was exhausted and they unwittingly drifted into sleep when they finally sat or lay down.
And then, like he had caught himself right in his doze off, the darkness of unconsciousness was banished by brightness.
Yanis jolted up with a violent gasp that broke into a procession of breaths to compose himself. In those shaken moments, he had felt himself lose feeling in everything from his toes to his cheeks and eyes. Sensation, as his breath eased, rapidly returned to him, and he felt his bare feet slide against water as he stood.
'Julius, that asshole' he thought, heaving to catch his breath as his head brushed over his surroundings, then fell to his feet standing over water, 'the one time I need you him to be loud and ballooning about something, you decide to go along with me downplaying you? You disgustingly undersold this.'
Yanis currently stood over an ocean, bare footed. Faint ripples echoed away from under his feet as he stared at himself in the reflection, as well as at his moving toes.
He watched with deepening attention as the water responded, rippling without any splashes at all and so wonderfully distorting the reflection of himself in it, and he moved them again, and again, then once more, and he couldn't stop himself from grinning.
He looked exactly like himself in person, standing at average height, with black hair and deep browns eyes. And what he was standing on felt exactly like water should feel - a little cold, wetting the bottom of his feet, and sending faint chills up his legs. Yanis could hardly believe that this wasn't real.
Looking away from his reflection, he checked his body, and he was wearing the same sweatpants and top he wore when entering the pod. His hands had the same slightly tanned shade as his skin.
At this point, seeing as he was standing on water, he half expected to be given new clothes, perhaps armour or robes? You know, something more mystical like the world he was about to sink himself into and thus befitting a young man that was standing on an ocean.
'This has to be game of the millennia.' He thought, despite that slight disappointment.
And thereupon, Yanis, with some distant, awful feeling, thought as well that he had wasted a considerable amount of time getting here. He felt the last six months not doing so, had been a lamentable waste.
Around him was a vast ocean, and above was a clear sky without a sun in it, which should have bothered him more than it did to see something so strange. And moments later, unexpectedly, the sound of water stirring behind him drew his attention.
He half turned to see mist had begun coalescing out of nothing where the water rose and began taking shape, and the mist caressed around it. Raising one of his brows, he was left wondering in the seconds that passed for it to complete, if he could make the water do that as well.
The woman that appeared had pale skin and long black hair that had slight curls to it. Embellished over her forehead was the tattoo of a black, upside-down crescent moon, like a basin. He had never seen a tattoo that looked like it belonged on the face wearing it; until her at least. Her eyes were a strange silver, with lips painted black, and draping her figure were dark purple robes that towards its ends dissolved into flakes of purple mist, and resisted the urge to go ask if he may touch it.
'Isn't that interesting…' He wasn't sure, immediately after thinking it, that interesting was the right word, because her eyes, as he met them felt rather strange. 'I guess it shouldn't feel normal to look into the eyes of an AI.'
"Good evening, Mr Yanis." Her voice was calm and silky. She daintily held her robes, and gave a brief curtsy, "To reintroduce myself, I am Hecate, and I will be your dedicated assistant throughout your time associated with our Shattered Realm."
"Good evening, Hecate." Yanis turned fully toward her and glanced at the water she had risen from. "Do you mind me asking how long were you waiting under there?"
"That is a kinder way of putting it than most have." Hecate eased into standing upright, then her hands drifted to clasp behind her back. And she shook her head faintly, "You may think of me as having always been here."
Hecate began to walk. Her bare feet carried her across the water, not necessarily moving towards anything, as all the distance held was ocean over which her steps sent faint ripples as she went.
"Fair enough." Was what he said.
Yanis fell into step alongside her, and in catching up, he caught the V shaped opening down her back, and found the dissolving flakes of purple mist break apart wherever they touched him.
"Mr Yanis," Hecate began as a strange, cold air brushed his figure, "There is a decision ahead of you," she didn't slow as she spoke, "And it would be unkind of me not to warn you that it is not a gift."
Yanis's next step came slower than the last, and Hecate walked on. The distance between them opened for a brief breath before he hastened to follow beside her again, and found her countenance hadn't wavered.
Thereupon, she continued, "It is something this body has already lived, and so, you are choosing the maledictions and wonders of its past."
"Maledictions is a strong word, no?" Yanis said, without faltering another step.
However, she stopped, and thus, he did.
Hecate turned fully to look at him with a pacific staidness.
"Beyond does not offer another difficulty setting besides Consternation."