The last thing I remember before going to sleep that night was closing the case report I had been working on for weeks. I was exhausted, so I decided to relax a little by playing my favorite strategy video game, the one that always took my mind off my stress...

  And then, without warning, I opened my eyes.

  The blue sky welcomed me. A sky... too blue.

  “H-hm...?” I murmured, squinting in the light. “What am I doing outside...?”

  I sat up slowly, feeling the texture of the fresh grass under my fingers. I didn't remember leaving the house, let alone going camping. The air smelled of grass, clean and soft, with an aroma impossible to find in the city.

  “Is this some kind of hidden camera prank?” I thought, looking around. Everything seemed so... real. Too real.

  I sat down, trying to gather my thoughts, when a male voice snapped me out of my reverie.

  “Liang! What are you doing here? You should be working the land.”

  I looked up. In front of me stood a stout man in farmer's clothes with a sickle slung over his shoulder. His furrowed brow betrayed the patience of someone accustomed to repeating the same phrases every day. I looked around in confusion, still not understanding exactly what was happening.

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  But that smell is unmistakable, the smell of a wet green meadow, it's too comfortable for my nose, I love that smell.

  “Liang...?” I repeated, confused.

  But the man let out a tired sigh and shook his head, as if this scenario was familiar to him. He just gave me a light tap on the forehead and tilted his head.

  “Don't start your nonsense again, son. If you really want to go to college when you grow up, you'll have to help me first. Without work, I can't pay your tuition.”

  My hands trembled. They were smaller, my fingers shorter, my skin softer. My heart began to race.

  “D... Dad?” I said in a whisper.

  The man raised an eyebrow.

  “Yes, it's me, your father, Liang. Don't start your weird games again,” he snorted, turning his back on me as he walked away toward the barn. “Come on, move it.”

  I blinked several times, incredulous. I felt the ground shift beneath my feet, as if the whole world had turned upside down and I was left hanging from its axis.

  “I'll... I'll be there in a minute,” I managed to reply, still trembling.

  The man walked away, whistling through his teeth.

  I stood there alone, trying to process the impossible. Until a gust of wind shook the grass around me.

  I looked up.

  A huge ship was crossing the skies, gliding through the clouds like a luminous whale. Golden dust fell from its hull, tracing flashes of light that slowly dissipated in the air.

  “W-woah...” I gasped, clutching the grass to make sure I wasn't dreaming.

  And then I saw it: beyond the ship, among the clouds parted by its passage, entire islands floated. Green, vibrant, covered with trees and waterfalls cascading into the void. Birds with impossible plumage fluttered among them, leaving trails of color.

  My heart stopped for a moment. I recognized it.

  I knew exactly where I was.

  “It can't be...” I whispered, with a mixture of terror and fascination, “this... this is the world of the game.”