THE MOMENT
"It worked!" Keith was pleasantly surprised by the large boulder in his living room with a golden sword protruding from the top. Now, he knew he was set for a good life. He once hacked a globally popular game just to see if he could, but he never used it for fear of being caught. Life moved on, and got distinctly more complicated ever since the AlterNet game first released.
The transition had been subtle and slow over the course of several years. It began with NPCs being able to interact in the real world with things like phone and video calls. Then the company that created the AlterNet released augmented pets that matched creatures in the game. At every milestone, the public conveniently forgot how drastically things had changed from the previous world-changing technology, and played down any revolutionary leaps.
By now, the AlterNet was the reality Keith lived in, and the only thing people could do was wonder how it all happened. When did everything go so wrong? It was a rather mundane night for Keith when he was lamenting his current situation. The world had changed, but he hadn't really. He was getting by, but that was all he was doing. Just getting to work and back home again safely was more than enough to be thankful for. He idly wondered if any of the actual 'game' was still there and that thought led to him remembering his old hack.
Keith decided it was a good thing that he'd never used it. Back then, he was young and afraid of getting caught. He hadn't been trying to hack it to gain any advantages, he was never much of a gamer. He appreciated the challenge of a global live service game, and the AlterNet was the most popular game on the planet. He'd left most of that life behind when he got a real job in a real office, but it all came back to him when he needed it. He only wanted to perform a simple test, and he summoned the Sword in the Stone.
"Wait..," he'd grabbed the handle and pulled, and the sword didn't budge. He strained and pulled with all his might, and went flying when his grip slipped. He staggered backward, hitting the edge of the coffee table and falling on it flat on his back. It was thankfully clear at the moment, but the shifting impact and angled weight was too much and the legs fell out from under it as he hit the ground and got the wind knocked out of him.
"Ugh, Screw this..," he groaned as he got to his feet again. He flicked his wrist to summon his Slate, and the large transparent glass surface appeared in the air before him. It was about 2' x 2' and thin as a sheet of paper; the Slate was how everyone interacted with the game menus. He'd noticed a different entry before, and scrolled through until he found it again. "... forget pulling it out myself." He pressed a button to dismiss the sword in the stone, and then he summoned a proper legendary sword, without the stone.
Another golden sword, this time stored in a golden scabbard, took shape and hovered above his Slate. "That's more like it," he grabbed Excalibur and drew it out in a smooth motion to admire the mirror-polished blade. "Yeah.. this'll work," he nodded. "Alright, let me top off my bank account..," he chuckled as he began planning what to do after he was rich. Now, he could do anything he wanted, but that was a lot to consider. He verified the hack worked, and he was stable for a while, so the best thing to do would be nothing, until he laid out clear goals.
"...and...," he grinned as his finger hovered over the button. "...I'm Rich!" he laughed.
"Hi, Rich, I'm Helios," Keith wasn't at all prepared for what happened. His finger touched the 'Confirm' prompt, he saw the button light up with the UI effect and everything, but the button suddenly changed under his finger. Instead of a rectangular red button, his finger was resting on the head of a faceless golden mannequin in a crimson silk suit. "You wanna tell me why your finger is in my face, Rich?" Helios asked with a ‘smushed’ affectation to his voice. Keith hadn't been expecting it, and it took his mind a little bit to catch up. By the time he did, he screamed and backed away from the Slate. This time, he only stumbled on the coffee table, because it was flat on the floor, and he made it to the other side of his living room.
"What are you??" he asked. The question took on an extra urgency as Helios' smooth golden head appeared on his TV; it had been off.
"That's not nearly as important as this question: What am I not?" Helios replied. He had an almost jovial voice, but Keith wasn't sure he'd consider it 'friendly'. "The answer to that question is..., I am not a cheater, like some people in this room." He'd been standing in a white void, but as he talked the background changed, and he made a sort of presenting gesture when he said 'this room'. The camera on the TV panned to show a third person view of Keith standing in his own living room, watching his own TV.
"What? Where?" He looked in the direction the camera seemed to be viewing him from, but there was only a wall there. "How?"
"See, none of those questions are important," Helios chuckled. "You're a cheater," he said as he raised his hand up behind his head. He made a curt motion and adjusted a white ten-gallon cowboy hat that did not exist until he moved it. "And, we don't care for your kind around these parts. So, out you go," Helios said.
"Out where?" Keith was growing more panicked as none of his questions were answered, then, everything went white. In the white void, he had just enough awareness to see vibrant red text.
[Sharp Development has banned you from AlterNet Reality.]
[Reason: Cheating.]
That was the last thing Keith saw. Then, there was nothing.