One of his own peons, harvesting gold from the mine, shuddered. Green text floated above its head: -5 HP. -5 HP. -5 HP. It turned red, convulsed, and died. From its corpse, a wisp of crimson smoke curled into the air, then split—hitting two nearby grunts.

He tried to quit. Alt+F4. Ctrl+Alt+Del. The game ignored him. The corrupted blood had spread to neutral creeps, to the sea turtles, even to the critters—deer and sheep skittering across the map, trailing infectious red lines behind them like awful comets.

He’d bought the remastered collection on a whim, chasing the ghost of his twelve-year-old self. Back then, building a horde of ogres and sending them crashing into a human keep was the peak of existence. Now, with a mortgage and a dull ache in his lower back, he wanted the edge. Just for one night. One god-mode rampage.

Then the chat log flickered. Not the in-game AI taunts. Something new.

His blood ran cold. The screen resolution shifted—just for a second—and he saw his own reflection in the black border. Behind him, in the dark of his office, something moved.