As the timer hit zero a man wearing jeans and a t-shirt appeared a little away from her. "What the fuck?"

Before Claire had a chance to even think of asking for clarification the screens showed a new image. A blonde woman in a green jacket reminiscent of a military uniform. "Hello everyone, I want to thank you all for being here in Gates of Eternity. I do apologize to those of you who were were using my Nervegear headsets for other purposes. It must be quite the surprise to find yourself here. Rest assured that everything will be made clear soon."

Well that probably explained the guy who was swearing some more at the explanation. The woman may be apologizing but she didn't seem very apologetic. That... along with the admitted hijacking of people's headsets weren't good signs.

"With the rediscovery of the gates, the world has changed irrevocably. Nobody knows everything that lies beyond, but what we do know is that dangers our ancestors hoped to put behind them by sealing away the gates all those years ago now threaten us again. And new dangers unknown to our ancestors have arisen in the intervening years. But it's not just dangers that lie beyond the gates, there are new opportunities for discovery and for friendship. The Sanctuary was built to serve as a base for a new wave of expeditions through the gates and as a fallback in case the first world ever falls to the enemies that threaten us all."

"Now, at this point you might think I'm just dramatically recounting the premise for this game. But I must correct you. For you, in this time, in this place. Everything I said is true. For the foreseeable future, this place is your reality. I've disabled the logout function and if someone has the bright idea of pulling your headset off they'll have thirty seconds to put it back on before you die."

There was a curious silence in response to that declaration. Looking around, she saw a number of people with their mouths open but she couldn't hear any of them speaking. Just to test she tried to say something but no sound came out. She also noted, a bit hysterically that the pink diamond indicating that this was just a game had grown an ominous red star stretching from its center to the four corners. That seemed like a bad sign.

"As you've probably noticed, I've silenced you for the moment. You'll have plenty of time to curse my name later. There is a way out, you need only discover it. The only hint I'll give is that it's not here. You'll have to travel through the gates to find it. It's also important for you to know, that while the world Sanctuary is built on maintains the planned functioning of the injury and resurrection systems, the worlds beyond the gates do not. If you suffer trauma the shrines of resurrection can't reverse, or your body is lost beyond recovery you will not respawn. And just to be clear that doesn't mean you'll wake up in what you have up till now considered the real world. There's no easy way out like that."

"As an added incentive to play along, I will inform you that there are real prizes out beyond the gates. Things that will serve you back in your old lives after you make your way home. Things that will open new opportunities you wouldn't have otherwise expected to have. I will also say that for those of you who want to shake me and get me to answer your questions, I too can be found. I won't indulge attempts to hurt me, but I will answer questions for anyone who's able to find me. I don't do any of this lightly. I hope that by the time you all find your way out you'll understand why I've done this."

"To smooth your transition to this new life I'd like to offer two additional things, first there are more than enough player rooms available to be claimed. There will be no charge for using those rooms or for any of the other NPC provided amenities of the Sanctuary. And second, I will reveal a secret. The headsets you're wearing are a good deal more sophisticated than the marketing indicated. A part of that was to allow me to threaten your lives, but another side effect is that the calibration process was smoke and mirrors. If you want your avatar to match your body exactly down to the birthmarks, that's entirely possible. The avatar customization system will be available for the first month as originally promised. With that I will bid you goodbye. I expect it to be quite some time before I see any of you again."

The screens in midair disappeared, and noise seemed to explode into being around her. There were people screaming, people yelling, and just people talking but rapidly raising their voices in an attempt to be heard. Claire found that she was shaking, and that she had been crying. Clinton was going to be so worried. She had been dreading logging out but to be forced to stay logged in. She didn't know what to think about that. It was too soon to try to come to any sort of conclusion. It was too soon to do anything really. For right now, all she could do was gently rub her own arms and try to calm down enough to stop shaking. Once she did that she could focus on other things. Deep breathe in. Deep breathe out.