Chapter 1

Eris wasn’t expecting anything that morning. The sun had barely risen, painting her apartment hallway in pale gold as she shuffled toward the door in mismatched socks. She was half-asleep, mentally preparing for a quiet day off, when her foot bumped something solid directly outside her door.

A box.

Neat. Unmarked. And placed so precisely it almost seemed staged.

She frowned. Nothing about it looked like a normal delivery—no tape seams, no labels, no barcodes. Just a black lacquered surface that reflected the hallway lights like a polished mirror. Carefully, she crouched down and lifted it. The weight surprised her, dense and cold like metal left out during winter.

Then she saw it.

Her name.

Written in beautiful, flowing handwriting.

*Eris Delane.*

No address. No sender. Just her name, centered perfectly as though whoever left it had all the time in the world.

A sharp prickle crawled up her spine.

“Did someone… prank me?” she murmured, carrying it inside.

She set the mysterious package on her kitchen table and hesitated. Rational thoughts told her to leave it alone. But as she slid a fingernail under the lid, a strange anticipation tugged at her curiosity.

The lid lifted smoothly.

Inside rested a VR cartridge—sleek silver, immaculate, almost glowing under her kitchen lights. She recognized the logo instantly.

*ECLIPSE HEARTS.*

The banned game.

The digital ghost of horror stories across the internet.

Her heart stumbled. She hadn’t heard the title spoken aloud in months, yet the moment she read it, the forum rumors flooded her memory—players collapsing mid-game, waking up screaming, shaking violently, complaining of shadows following them even after removing their headsets. Officials claimed it was an “overactive imagination mixed with a technical defect.”

But players swore something inside the game was wrong. Dangerous. Alive.

Eris should have thrown the cartridge away.

Instead, her trembling fingers lifted it gently from its velvet-lined slot. The surface hummed faintly with warmth.

“How… do you exist?” she whispered.

Her VR headset sat untouched on her desk across the room, a relic of hobbies she abandoned once adulthood swallowed her free time. Now it looked almost expectant.

She told herself she was only curious. That she owed it to herself to check. To confirm the rumors were exaggerated.

After all… who else had been chosen to receive this?

Eris slid the cartridge into the headset. It clicked softly, almost like the sound of a door locking.

The world loaded instantly—a burst of radiant color and soft music, a paradise of blooming meadows and pastel skies. Almost too perfect. Too gentle. She wandered through fields sparkling under a warm breeze, NPCs greeting her with uncanny sincerity.

“This doesn’t seem dangerous at all,” she muttered.

But then the sky flickered.

A single blink—like reality stuttering.

Her temples throbbed.

Another flicker.

Then pain exploded behind her eyes—sharp, electric, blinding.

She gasped, reaching for the headset, but her hands wouldn’t move. The world twisted, colors bleeding into darkness, and her heartbeat pounded in her ears like war drums.

Her vision shattered.

---

Warm silk brushed against her cheek.

Eris jolted awake, gasping loudly, her breath ragged. She wasn’t lying on her rug. Or her bed. Or anywhere she recognized. Instead, she was surrounded by velvet curtains draped over a massive canopy bed, their deep purple fabric shimmering like liquid night.

This wasn’t her room.

No—this was—

Her gaze caught a mirror across the room.

She froze.

In its reflection was a girl with flawless dark skin, violet eyes filled with shock, and hair cascading in glossy curls across embroidered pillows.

A face she knew.

A face she had seen a hundred times on fan art, character screens, and lore videos.

**Marie Margaret.**

The villainess of *Eclipse Hearts*.

Before she could scream, a soft knock sounded at the door.

“Lady Marie? Are you awake?” a maid called gently. “His Highness requests your presence.”

Eris opened her mouth to insist she wasn’t Marie—

But the moment the lie formed on her tongue—

A violent, searing pain ripped through her chest. She lurched forward, choking as warm liquid surged up her throat. Blood dripped onto her hands, metallic and horrifying.

She collapsed to the floor, trembling.

What kind of game punished lying with *blood*?

What kind of world had she woken up in?

And who had delivered the cursed game to her door?

-

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