Page 6 of Immersed
The space behind him stood empty. Just trees and lengthening shadows.
“I thought I saw someone,”Levi said, his eyes still fixed on the spot where the figurehadbeen.“A man, just... standing there.”
“Probably just the light playing tricks,”Jasper said with a shrug.“Forest shadows can look like all sorts of things, especially when you’re not used to it.”
Right.It’s a horror game. They’re just building atmosphere. Setting up the scares. Because nothing says ‘enjoy our beta test’ like phantom stalkers in the woods.
“Coming,”he called, jogging over to join Jasper.“Let’s get that firewood before whatever’s lurking in these woods decides we look interesting.”
Jasper laughed.“That’s the spirit! Nothing like a little paranoia to spice up a camping trip.”
But as they walked toward the tree line, Levi couldn’t shake the feeling that somewhere in the deepening shadows, somethingwasstill watching them. Waiting.
3
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LevifollowedJasperdeeperinto the woods, both arms cradling an ever-growing pile of sticks and branches. Each piece carried authentic weight, the bark snagging on his hoodie sleeve with perfect resistance. He tested the sensation by shifting his grip, marveling at how his muscles responded to the actual weight distribution.
“This is extraordinary,”he whispered when Jasper wandered a few yards away.“I can feel everything—the roughness, the weight, even the temperature differences between the pieces.”
He glanced around, half-expecting to see chat messages floating in the air somewhere. Nothing but trees and lengthening shadows greeted him.
“Chat, can you guys see this?”Levi spoke quietly, feeling foolish.
He waited, but no scroll of comments appeared. A flicker of concern crossed his mind—werehis viewers staring at a black screen right now?Hadthe stream crashed when the neural interface activated?
Jasper turned back, eyebrows raised.“You say something, man?”
“Just talking to myself.”Levi forced a laugh, heat rising in his cheeks.“Bad habit. Along with staying up till 3 AM and living on energy drinks.”
“I get it. Sometimes I have my best conversations with me.”Jasper stooped to pick up a gnarled branch.“The trees listen better than people, you know?”
As Jasper moved ahead again, Levi found himself whispering to the air out of pure habit.“I guess the neural interface is so complete it blocks out everything from the real world. Even you guys.”
The thought sent a shiver through him. How isolatedwashe right now? But then he looked around at the stunning detail of the forest—the way light filtered through leaves, the authentic scatter of debris on the forest floor—and the concern melted into amazement again.
This feels more real than real life.
“That clearing where I started,”Levi called to Jasper.“Have we been there before?”
Jasper looked back, puzzled.“The meadow? Yeah, we passed through when we hiked up yesterday. Why?”
“Just wondering if we should check it out again. It seemed... I don’t know, peaceful.”
“It’s just a clearing, dude.”Jasper laughed.“Unless you dropped something there?”
Levi shook his head, but the question nagged at him. Something about that meadow felt important, though he couldn’t put his finger on why. It reminded him of something Ethan used to say about paying attention to starting areas, but the memory felt hazy.
“What if I missed something important back there?”he murmured to himself, then caught himself talking to his absent chat again.
The thought triggered a clearer memory of Ethan hunched over his keyboard, frantically reloading a save file.“First few minutes are always crucial,“he’dexplained, gesturing at some horror game Levihadbeen too scared to watch closely.“Environmental storytelling, item placement, NPC dialogue, if you miss something early, and you’re screwed when the real horror starts.”
Ethan would have known what to do here. Hewasalways so good at mapping the important details.
Levi’s arms tightened around his bundle of firewood. What if hemissedsomething in that meadow? What if that feeling of importancewasn’tjust his imagination?
“You look nervous,”Jasper commented as they turned back toward camp.“Getting spooked already? Wait ’til the sun goes down.”
