Emperor Night

Clunk. Jonathan's head fell hard against his keyboard. Word quickly spread about Jonathan's new unemployment status. Discretion was not one of Mr. Checnov's virtues. It seemed like the whole world knew of Jonathan's little storeroom indiscretion. Pervert, s.e.x.u.a.l deviant, the backroom beef buffer, these were just a few of the names he had been called online. That last one might have been funny had it not been for the circ.u.mstances.

Margery had taken the scandal hardest. She had originally envisioned Jonathan as a rather plain person with rather plain d.e.s.i.r.es that matched his rather plain look. Someone unthreatening she could bring home to her strict parents. All of this she had explained to Jonathan in an excruciatingly uncomfortable chat which had ended with Jonathan's new single status. Word of that status had spread fast. He was a pariah even Jonathan's own sister had been avoiding his calls.

Clunk. Jonathan's head started to throb. He decided that he had punished his keyboard, and his head, long enough. Standing up from his computer desk he surveyed his bedroom. The cramped space had an assortment of empty drink cans and takeout containers haphazardly scattered around his floor and computer desk. He did his best to avoid looking at the small mirror hanging up on his wall. The last time he checked, a thin layer of stubble had begun to overtake his face and his eyes looked like they were being pulled down by the heavy sacks underneath them. He stretched his lanky figure and let out a determined grunt.

'Alright, enough moping.' Jonathan felt a little lighter as he began to gather up the clutter around his room.

A sudden flash of light came from Jonathan's computer screen followed by a strange trumpeting jingle from his speakers. 'Odd' Jonathan thought he had powered-off his monitor when he started cleaning. The screen showed Jonathan's email, one new message waiting for him. 'I must have left it open.' He approached the monitor to turn it off again, the email could wait until later. He hesitated as he glanced at the message's subject line:

Live without fear.

"The hell?" Jonathan went to mark the email as spam. He squinted as he checked the message's sender. It was from Isekguy Studios, the creators of Netorare Emperor. Jonathan sighed as he checked the email, Isekguy Studios was known for sending out quirky special offers and Jonathan was a sucker for a good deal. "This better not give me a virus."

To: Jonathan Night

From: Isekguy Studios

Subject: Live without fear.

Congratulations! You have been accepted to join the closed beta for Live Without Fear. A new experience in the world of roleplaying from Isekguy Studios. Delve into a fantasy world where you can be yourself without judgement! Our state of the art AI directs player-driven emergent storytelling and game play. This game is unlike anything you have ever seen and a great way to relax and escape from your plain and socially awkward life. As this is a closed beta we expect a few bugs that we hope you can help us squash. Click HERE to sign our NDA and create your character today.

'Plain and socially awkward life?' Jonathan pondered 'That's an odd way of putting it. I don't think people enjoy being called plain or socially awkward. The marketing guy really dropped the ball on that one.' At the bottom of the email was a scantly clad girl with long pointed ears and blonde hair that flowed over her transparent unbuttoned robe and down to her waist. A tattoo that resembled a bulbous lily eminated a light purple glow on from her c.h.e.s.t. It definitely looked like Jonathan's kind of game but something about the email seemed off. He didn't remember signing up for any closed betas recently. A quick internet search showed that the sender's email address checked out and put Jonathan's mind at ease.

'What the hell, why not?' Jonathan clicked the hyperlink and proceeded. He scrolled past the enormous wall of fine print that appeared shortly after. 'Accept... Accept... Accept...' All fine print was essentially the same so he didn't waste his time on it. A few minutes later he had finally landed on the character creation screen. It was surprisingly sparse. Only three fields: name, gender, special ability and an image of a character that looked eerily like him.

Jonathan rubbed the back of his neck. Usually he was pretty boring with his character names. Preferring to use just Jonathan or Jon. It helped immerse him into the game world and character he played. No reason to change it up now. Jonathan entered "Jonathan" as his character name.

"ERROR please do not use your real name." The character creation screen complained in a robotic staccato.

"Urgh, alright." They must have had Jonathan's name on file somewhere. He tried entering "Jon".

"ERROR name too short. Try again." The character creation screen blurted.

Jonathan spent several minutes trying different variations of his name, each one returning error after error. Stubbornly he continued until the system accepted a name that he entered "Jonn Nightmare".

"Fine. NAME ACCEPTED..." It conceded.

Jonathan chuckled at the character screen's belligerence. He imagined that a significant amount of work went into making it quirky that might have been lost on the regular player. He wondered why the screen didn't let him use his own name. The name he ultimately chose was somewhat on the pretentious side. 'Nightmare, what am I twelve? I hope other players don't think I am strange.' Jonathan paused as it dawned on him that he didn't know if the game was even multiplayer or really what the game was about at all. Maybe he would get lucky and avoid the embarrassment of interacting with other humans with such an "edgy" name.

The next information box was easy. Gender. Male.

"Are you sure? Playing as a female might be an enlightening experience." The character creation screen chimed in.

'Nope.' Jonathan didn't really play games as a female lead when given a choice. It was probably for the same reason he named most of his characters after himself or perhaps it was just due to a lack of imagination. Jonathan rarely pondered that thought. Besides, who would want to play as a female called Jonn Nightmare?

That just left Jonathan with the special ability field to fill in. This time it was a categorized drop-down menu. There were a hefty list of abilities listed, ranging from superhuman strength to teleportation to the use of powerful in-game artifacts. 'Balancing this game must be a nightmare.' He shook his head at his unintentional pun. He scrolled down until he reached the final category, s.e.x.u.a.l abilities. One in particular stood out: Arousal Control. The ability to lower or heighten the s.e.x.u.a.l arousal levels of nearby characters. 'Perfect'. Jonathan's mind wondered to the ways in which he could use this ability as he selected it, making some unsuspecting NPC girl fall down, hot and bothered in the middle of a crowded street unable to hold back the urge to touch herself. He hoped that the game allowed for his particular fetishes but considering it was from Isekguy Studios, it almost certainly did.

"SPECIAL ABILITY ACCEPTED, you pervert. Initiating." The computer said in an almost mocking tone.

Jonathan's room was immediately plunged into darkness. 'A power short?' Jonathan thought and g.r.o.a.n.e.d at the thought of having to redo the whole application process. But it shouldn't have been pitch black. There should have been daylight coming from outside. An intense white light enveloped Jonathan's whole body as the room around him peeled away into nothingness, leaving Jonathan alone in the sea of white that surrounded him. The light began to dim as the scent of beer, cooked meat and the hearty warmth of a fire overwhelmed his senses.

"Where am I?".