An Infinity of Ideals

Obligation means different things to different people.

For some, it's a weight crushing them down. For others, structure holding chaos at bay. And for a few, pride in duty freely chosen. But they all share one thing: responsibility.

I stared at the flickering green text. This can't be real. I rubbed my eyes. The words Ideal of Obligation remained, mocking my disbelief.

"Dan..."

"Just... just listen." He exhaled shakily. "Yesterday was Infinity's launch. I got my copy, along with my guild."

I waved my hand through the projected screen. No resistance, like it didn't exist. The display didn't even acknowledge my interference.

"The dive started normal," he continued. "Then I opened my eyes in this white room, black lines everywhere converging on this... figure. Like an empty human shell." He shuddered at the memory.

I stayed silent. Whatever had happened to Dan, it wasn't just brain damage. Unless I'd had a stroke and was hallucinating too.

"A voice asked what I desired. When I answered, this chirpy voice in my head said 'Commencing scan.' That's when the tattoo appeared on my avatar. The voice said pressing it would show my status screen."

His voice dropped. "When I opened the status screen, I felt the Ideal change me. Like carrying the weight of everyone who depends on me. I closed my eyes, trying to center myself. When I opened them, I was back in my chair. The tattoo from my avatar was there, real as anything. No pain - like I'd always had it."

"Dan..." I gripped his shoulder. "Why didn't you call? You know I'd have come."

"Was going to. Got your message right after it happened. Had to work late, got ejected right after you messaged. Called the guild, we met last night. They all went through it too."

"All of them? Is it affecting everyone who logs in?"

"No idea. They didn't all get Ideals though. Just me. The others got Jobs. Jess - our healer, you'd like her - got Archery. Taylor got Blacksmithing, Asta got Stonemason. They didn't feel what I felt, but their tattoos show up here too."

Something clicked. "What do you know about Carl Jung?"

"Man, it's been a while since school. Jung believed each person's psyche had three parts: ego, individual unconscious, and collective unconscious. Ego is your conscious self - decisions, identity, self-reflection. Individual unconscious holds forgotten memories and unprocessed information, shaping personality. Collective unconscious is shared human knowledge and ideas, influencing everyone. His theories lost out to Freud's though."

"That's way more than I knew," I said.

"Why ask about Jung now?"

"Something Josh said. He mentioned Jung's theories being confirmed before showing me the Infinity article."

"You think someone weaponized Jung's theories?" Dan asked.

"No, that'd be crazy. Far as we know, you just have some future-tech hologram tattoo. I'm curious about the connection between the game design and Jung's ideas."

"There's more I need to show you," he said ominously.

More? How is the media not exploding over this? Was Josh right about a cover-up? No, stop it Jace.

Dan closed his status screen and braced against the wall. Concentrating, he thrust his hand toward me, stopping short of my chest. An immense pressure drove me to my knees, mind going hazy. Then it vanished like it had never existed.

"What the FUCK was that?" I gasped.

"That, my friend, was magic." His lopsided grin did nothing to hide the sweat beading his face.

***

Magic is every child's dream - raw power to reshape reality. Hope for those craving adventure, escape from mundane life. Magic brings wonder to a world of death and pain.

The only reason that comforting lie lasts is because magic isn't real.

But when magic becomes reality? Time to panic. The same people who filled the world with hatred and pain would abuse these powers just like they abused everything else. Images flashed through my mind - storms ravaging cities, people flying through the air raining fire. My chest tightened, breath coming short.

"Magic? Dan, explain EXACTLY what you mean by magic."

"It's magic, dude. The status screen isn't the only thing that came back when the AI kicked me out. What you felt was my power, linked to Obligation."

"Magic powers..." Reality was crumbling around me. "This is bad, Dan. Really fucking bad. What if everyone who's logged in since launch has this?"

Dan's nose scrunched as he considered it. "Shit, you're right. This changes everything. The whole world's about to change."

"We need to talk to your guild. Test what they can do. Get ahead of this somehow. Cities will be worse, but even our little town's going to go insane."

"Yeah, I'll call them. They can be here in fifteen minutes." You could get anywhere in our seven-square-mile town that fast.

At least this would be contained here. How many people could afford top-end VR and care about Infinity Online's launch? VR was expensive - hence my inability to play anymore.

While Dan called his guild, I checked the news again. Something this big had to be reported. Josh's conspiracy theories nagged at me. They couldn't keep this quiet, could they?

My attention drifted to my wrist. The infinity symbol was filling in, becoming solid.

"Dan!?"

"Yeah, they're coming, give me a second-"

"DAN!" I thrust my wrist toward him. "This is so much worse than we thought."

His eyes went wide as the same realization hit. This wasn't contained. Something was spreading it, and without understanding how, we were completely screwed.