Chapter Text
Everything was stressful.
Players misbehaving and disobeying the rules, an increase in daily arguments by a ton, and having to constantly lock accounts out after several warnings.
She was sick of it.
Stella groaned, running a hand down her face as sleep deprivation urged her to sleep. She cracked open another can of an energy drink Ziggi reccomended to her, beginning to chug it to try and cease her weary trance.
It had been about 2 days since Stella last slept, dark eye bags making her eyes all dark and droopy were evidence of that. Others were starting to become worried and urged her to take breaks, but she just couldn’t.
Despite how it made her feel, she wouldn’t stop working. It was a full-time job, something she was made to do, and she hated letting people down, especially her creators who brought her into this world in the first place.
Her head was pounding, movement sluggish as she worked and worked. It was her responsibility to get her work done and ban those who rebel against the policy, no one could stop her despite how tired she truly was.
Yet, she still felt constant stress and discomfort. It was like she wasn’t real, she didn’t belong in Nexus amongst the others. Maybe her life was just a lie? Maybe all of her actions don’t mean anything and are utterly useless?
She shook her head, clearing her thoughts to regain focus as she continued writing. However, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t stop thinking about everything. They all claimed she was overthinking, obviously she disagreed. But now… she considered the possibility the might be telling the truth.
Getting out of her seat, she just stood there and pondered. So many overwhelming thoughts and voices from those she knew flooded her brain like a tidal wave, her beliefs slowly turning into her queries. Questions, realisations, claims, lies, and the terrifying truth, all came crashing down on her at that very moment. It began to haunt her, it was all that was inside her ruined headspace.
She walked towards her door, beginning to board herself inside and getting rid of all light sources as she claimed they were too distracting. She then continued to pace back and forth, pondering her existence and her purpose. Is she real? Is everything a lie? It was all a mystery to her, concepts vague and eerie.
She turned towards the faint outline of her desk, approaching it and turning on the screen of her personalised database. She booted up the system and found herself browsing the amount of accounts she’d locked. Eyes didn’t even dare to blink, glued to the sigh infront of her. So many that engaged in wrongdoing, such vermin deserves to be punished. Such swines caused her pain and agony, like she was burning in hell for all of her ignorant sins she executed.
Constant clicking, banning countless players who just about broke the rules. Everything became a blur, reasoning started to turn into riddles. Again, stress and anger overtook her mind, her brain beginning to short circuit and fry. At the same time, wonders of her reality also clouded her thoughts. It was too much, but she couldn’t stop.
Then it all went black.
Her body was in shock, migraine pounding against her skull as she began floating in pure eigengrau. Or was she just dreaming? Can you even count this as a dream? It was rather a nightmare, quite strange. Previous foreign emotions drained from her body, replaced with her regular personality. It was like she had been factory reset.. then panic hit her like a double decker bus.
It was cold, oh so cold… yet so warm, like her skin was burning for the sheer negative degrees she was in. Plunged into a black ocean, a sea of pure nothingness.
She was in what seemed to be a void.
Her skin was crawling, everything hurt. Discomfort, unease, sickness, disorder, a gruesome feeling bubbling up inside of her and surrounding her. Following like a shadow, stalking from above.
The wetness of the waters then cleared up, replaced with her feet flat on the ground and a mirror placed onto the surface infront of her. She began to approach it, a scene unfolding around her. Something that looked like an insane asylum, plain white floor tiles while blood stains in every crevice. Countless pills littered all around, each a different colour of the rainbow. It contrasted against the plain decor, sticking out like a sore thumb.
Another swift change after she opened the door ahead of her, being granted with a new area. The air was thick with tension, and her muscles ached with every step. She felt like she was being watched, all eyes on her timid form. Her steps became more slowed as she approached a mirror, her eyes widening in surprise at the out of place object in the pure void she was currently in.
The longer she stared, it began to crack. Shattering before her eyes and shards piling down on the floor with a loud crash. She gasped, her heart pounding in her chest as she backed away. Pain and nausea overrided her body, pins and needles pricking at her skin. It was agonising.
A blood curdling scream sounded, before lights began to flash all around.
She grabbed at chunks of her hair, which twisted into a massive unkempt mess matted with her own blood, purple and pink dye resembling a nebula dyed red like a white rose. Blood poured all around her, drowning out her desperate cries for help as parts of her face began to contort and glitch into a bright blue.
Her head was pounding, her brain began to explode and her preset coding was resetting. Her body ached as her left arm changed form, spikes of error messages and malware popping up in a coherent sequence.
Then everything went black, her cpu was completely fried and her files were corrupted.
She was a completely different person, if you can even consider her as one.