We thought we were gods.

We thought we were gods. We created a world for people to hide from their lives. You could escape. You could roam free without worrying about when, or what, you would be eating next. The paradise that could be. That’s what we made.

And like any paradise, the vultures came. And there was one vulture who was smarter than the rest. They came and corrupted our rules. They consumed resources without consideration and corrupted environments. They treated our paradise like it was to be used, instead of enjoyed.

They nested, finding ways to stay in Virtual for longer and longer spans instead of dipping in for a reprieve. And we had no way to distinguish who was who. That was the point. By the time we understood, the project couldn’t be undone. Those who were using Virtual as we envisioned, as we ourselves needed to, those poor souls didn’t deserve to be robbed of the one joyous part of their lives.

Of the six architects, two stepped away from technology and one committed suicide. Three of us soldiered on. I was the youngest. The workload was too much for three, so we sought a fourth. He was too bright by half, ambitious, hungry in more ways than one. He needed the technology and we needed him. Granted privileges he went deeper and deeper into Virtual and it changed him. Scourge, of course. Although that wasn’t the name of the charming boy we admitted to our inner circle.