Later that evening, Tyler was at home watching videos of leaks of Xeovis on YouTube, smiling to himself. “These marketers are great,” he said aloud, though no one else was around him. He lived alone, with no living family and no significant other. He had a family once, but they were no longer around. He stayed single since his wife and daughter left his life, mostly due to the constant strain of his Army career, but also that his main priority was his baby: Xeovis. He had created an entire world, and one larger than the Earth at that. He had visions of the world in his dreams, and he made those dreams come true in the game. Different cities, skills, creatures, every aspect of the game. There were some things that were added by other designers, and he may not have created everything himself, but he gave the plans to artists, writers, developers, and other designers to complete it, and allowed them some freedom to create their own things as well.  He always had visions of Xeovis as if it were a real world, and wanted everything to be just like he had envisioned, at least mostly, given that other designers were also working on it, before it was released. But the procedural world generation and biome algorithms, AI, or consciousness as he preferred to call it, and the lore were all created solely by him.  

Then, the doorbell rang. He sprang from his sofa, where he had been sitting to eat a quick bite before company was supposed to arrive. He had made boxed Mac n’ Cheese from H.E.B., which he had to have shipped from friends of his who lived in Texas, since there were no H.E.B. stores in Colorado, where he lived and the company was based. He opened the door quickly, revealing a large crate and two of the VR team members, as well as John. 
“Come in, come in,” he said quickly, waving them inside, “Need a hand with that, or are you good?” They all smiled. 
“We’ve got it,” John said as he and the other two moved the crate inside, “Where do you want it?” 
Tyler pointed to a bare area of his house, the dining room. He never ate in there, so he had removed the table, which was only there because his mom sometimes came over and she would chide him for having an empty space there. The two on the VR team started unpacking the crate as he moved to the refrigerator, awkwardly grabbing four beers from inside and walking them over to John, Walt, and Mike, who were pulling pieces out of the crate and assembling them.

“Thanks,” John said, then looked to Tyler. 
“Don’t drink on this. Or near this. It’s a loaner. It’s a prototype. It might be mostly your company, but it’s my machine, dangit.” He laughed as Tyler watched Mike and Walt, saying, “Yeah, yeah,” as if he hadn’t been paying attention to what John was saying. 
“And my raise of ten percent goes into effect on Friday.” 
Tyler responded, “Yeah. Definitely. I understand.” Then John laughed loudly.
 “Dude, you’re not paying attention at all! I just told you my ten percent raise goes into effect on Friday, and you said yeah, definitely!” 
Tyler looked to him and stated in a flat voice, “Yeah? And?”
 Then he raised the side of his mouth in a smirk. They both laughed, then Tyler said, 
“Come on, man. You know I don’t do the books. Marten does that. You’ll have to ask him for the raise. I made it that way so I can’t be tricked like you just tried to do.”
 He flashed John a winning smile. Walt and Mike laughed as they continued their work. 
“I’m really looking forward to this. The consciousness transfer doesn’t hurt does it?
” The three shrugged and made an, “I don’t have any clue,” gesture.

After the device had been set up, Tyler couldn’t help but log in to see his years of long work become available to play, so he stepped into the specially-designed body suit and sat in the machine, preparing to launch the game. After pulling the suit’s hood, covered in neural link thread, over his face , his heart began racing in anticipation. Pulling from his training, he calmed himself using breathing exercises, lowering his heart rate in the process. “Start,” he called to no one in particular. His command, however, was obeyed, and his vision began to grow dark as his skin began to tingle as the suit warmed up and the headset . Seconds later, weightlessness took him, and he was floating in an endless sea of black.

Slowly, a satellite-height view of the world he created, Xeovis, faded into view as a slight gravitational pull tugged him toward the ground slowly at first, but then his pace picked up until he was speeding past the clouds. He held back a scream as his heart rate once again jumped in anticipation. As he fell toward the ground, he couldn’t help but stare in wonder. “I created this,” he thought, “and it’s finally real. I’m here.” He couldn’t help but smile. Then his thoughts changed, “Pain. If I hit the ground like this, it will hurt.” As he thought that, he was suddenly transported with a flash. He fell to one knee, bowing his head, breathing deeply, trying to suppress the bile rising in his throat from the sudden shift in gravity.  “Well met, friend,” a deep voice boomed from behind him.

Jumping to his feet as he spun to face this presence, Tyler moved into a fighting stance as he saw the man towering over him, clad in full plate armor, holding a tower shield and large claymore that he wielded in a single hand. His eyebrows rose in recognition as his tense posture faded as his muscles relaxed. “Hey Borak. Nice to meet you in… the flesh,” he said, trailing off toward the end, realizing that he wasn’t really flesh. The man greeting him stepped back slightly, raising the face plate of his helmet and raising his sword and shield into an aggressive stance, “How do you know my name, traveler? I do not know you.” Tyler smiled, trying to ease Borak’s trepidation, “I drink, and I know things,” Tyler began, then chuckled to himself, “I created you, my friend. You are here to assist me with my transition into the world, correct? My name, help me choose an occupation, things like that?” 

A long pause passed in tense silence as Borak narrowed his eyes and considered Tyler, who spent time looking around the tower he was standing on, looking over the intricate carvings in the solid white stone on the ground and walls, but was eventually overwhelmed by the awkward silence. 
“You alright there, man?” Tyler asked him. 
“Yes. I am only considering your statement. Are you asserting that you are The Creator?” Tyler’s eyebrows rose as his mouth opened and closed, considering a response.
 “I created this world, everyone, and everything in it… Well, I created many of the things and people, and developed systems to allow it to organically grow itself. Yes.”
 Borak’s face did not change, other than his focus intensifying on Tyler. Borak’s tone was monotone as he asked, “What is your name?”  
“I’m Tyler, but in Xeovis, I will go by the name of Relyt.”
 Borak moved to the next question. “And where are you from, Relyt?” 
“Colorado.” 
 “Occupation?” 
Once again, he responded in a single word, “Engineer.”

“I have analyzed you and your words, Relyt of Colorado, and I sense no deception. You are truly The Creator of Xeovis, then?”
 Borak’s words were spoken without any feeling, but clearly a level of disbelief, “I never thought the stories were true.” 
Tyler gave him an understanding smile of reassurance. 
“Borak, I know for a fact that you did believe the tales were true at one point. It was after your appointment to this position that you became disillusioned and no longer believed. No one ever came here. You have been here for what, just over twenty years now, waiting for the arrival of travelers? I apologize for the wait. There were some… problems getting here.”
 Borak nodded absently for nearly a minute before speaking. 
“Very well. I believe you, but you no longer possess the powers of The Creator.” 
Tyler nodded in affirmation, “That’s correct. Right now, I am a simple traveler. I am aware of the requirements to regain those powers.” 
“Very well, then you should get started. Please take a moment to allocate your starting attributes here. Remember, those in Xeovis are not aware of these, and do not share your true name within Xeovis. Let me know when you are done. I will be over by the portal.”
 Borak extended his hand toward the portal near the edge of the tower.