Trapped In Elysium: A Virtual Reality Nightmare-Chapter 98: You had sex with me

Borik finally broke the heavy silence, voice gruff and uncertain.

"What do you really mean, Liam?" he asked, his dark eyes narrowing across the fire. "You say this isn’t a game... but then you say you’re not from here. What are you saying?"

Liam took a slow breath. Everyone’s eyes were on him now, waiting.

"We’re not from this world," Liam said quietly. "Not from this land, this... reality. We come from a place called Earth. A planet similar to here, far beyond anything you know."

Sera tilted her head slightly, brows furrowing.

"This world," Liam continued, gesturing around him, "was supposed to be a virtual reality simulation. A game. Something we could play and experience without real consequences. But something isn’t right. And now... we’re trapped here. And it’s real."

Borik looked at him like he’d just grown another head. "A game?" he repeated. "You mean, like a story? A fable?" 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Jason leaned forward. "No. Like an illusion. Artificial reality. A space where everything feels real but isn’t. Built with code, data, systems."

Mariel blinked at them, stunned. "You’re saying... all of this... everything I’ve ever known... is fake?"

Sophia bit her lip. Jason shook his head. "No," he said, not kindly. "We’re saying it might be fake. You might’ve been created by the system to live out your story within the game world. You wouldn’t know. You wouldn’t even question it."

"What?" Sera’s voice was sharp now. "You’re saying we’re... what? Some kind of characters you interact with?"

"NPCs," Jason said, looking away, like it hurt him to even say it out loud. "Non-player characters. Programmed with backstories. Designed to feel and talk and move like real people. But not real. Not really."

"No," Borik growled. "No, I don’t believe that." He stood up, his voice rising. "I’ve lived my whole life! My memories... my battles... my pain! Are you telling me none of that was real? That I was coded to believe it?"

Mariel was staring at Liam, her eyes wet now, her hands clenched tight at her sides. "You said you were different," she whispered. "From somewhere far, but... this? You think we’re not real?"

Liam’s throat tightened. "Mariel, I didn’t mean—"

"No," she snapped, standing up too, her voice trembling but loud. "You did! You meant it. You think I was made. Built. Like a puppet with strings. You think my feelings, my choices, everything I’ve done—it was just lines of script in your stupid game?"

"That’s not what I said—"

"Then why did you sleep with me, Liam?" Her voice broke.

The campfire popped as the wood shifted, but no one moved.

Sophia looked up from her arrows. Jason froze. Marcus raised his eyebrows and let out a low whistle. Eleanor didn’t flinch, but her eyes narrowed slightly. No one had expected her to say it.

Liam stared at Mariel. She was shaking, lips tight, cheeks flushed red from anger and betrayal.

"You had sex with me," she said again, quieter this time. "Because you thought I wasn’t real. You thought I didn’t matter."

"That’s not true," Liam said, rising to his feet. "I didn’t think that—Mariel, I never saw you that way. I didn’t do it because I thought you weren’t real, I—"

"Then why?" she snapped. "Because if you truly believed I was real, then you’ve been lying to me since the day we met."

Sophia looked away. Marcus stopped whistling. Even Sera’s blank stare was gone now, replaced with something else—concern, maybe confusion.

Jason shifted awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "This got out of hand."

Borik stood beside Mariel now, not aggressive, but supportive. Like he was ready to catch her if she broke.

Liam felt the firelight heat on his face, but it was nothing compared to the burn rising in his chest. Not from shame. From helplessness. From guilt. Because he didn’t know how to explain any of this without sounding like a monster.

"I don’t know what’s real anymore," Liam said finally, his voice lower now. "But when I was with you... when we were together... it felt real. And I know how that sounds. I know what it looks like. But I swear to you, Mariel, I never thought of you as... fake."

She didn’t answer.

She just turned away, arms crossed over her chest, her hair hiding her face from the firelight.

The silence stretched again, colder than before.

No one spoke. The fire was the only sound now, the soft lick of flame over charred wood.

In the distance, a bird called once, lonely.

And then... nothing.

Just the weight of it all.

The silence around the fire had turned bitter. Heavy. Liam could feel it in the way no one looked at him, in the way the flames flickered and danced like they too were unsure of where to settle. He glanced once toward Mariel, saw how her shoulders were still stiff, her face turned away from the others. Borik had sat back down beside her, a silent wall of support. Sera hadn’t said a word. And Liam... he felt the weight of every eye that wasn’t looking at him.

He stood up, wordless, brushing the dust from his pants as he turned from the firelight and walked off into the deepening dusk. The jungle loomed quiet around him. Somewhere far off, the cries of birds echoed, but here, there was only the whisper of wind through the trees. He leaned against a crooked, moss-covered trunk, folding his arms, breathing through his nose as he stared blankly ahead.

He shouldn’t have said anything.

He knew it now. Not like that. Not to them.

What the hell had he been thinking?

He heard footsteps before he saw her. Quiet, purposeful. A rhythm he recognized instantly.

Sophia.

She didn’t say anything at first. Just walked until she was beside him, then stood there, arms folded, not looking at him. Her jaw was tight. Her eyes were fixed on the trees ahead. The silence stretched between them like a taut wire.

"You really did it, huh?" she finally said. "Slept with her."

Liam closed his eyes for a second. "Yeah."

"Why?"

He swallowed. "I don’t know."

"Wrong answer." Her voice was low, but sharp. "You knew exactly what you were doing, Liam."

He turned slightly toward her. "I know I messed up. I know."

"No. You don’t. You don’t get to say that and act like it means something." Sophia faced him now, her face unreadable, but her eyes? They were burning. "You knew what she felt for you. You knew how real she made it all feel. And still... you said all that in front of everyone. Like none of it mattered. Like she was just—just another character in your story."

Liam opened his mouth, then shut it. He didn’t know how to explain it without sounding worse.

"She’s not fake," Sophia continued. "None of them are. I don’t care what this world is. You saw her cry. You watched her bleed. That wasn’t data. That was real."

"I know it was real," Liam said finally, his voice low and hoarse. "You think I don’t know that? You think I didn’t feel it too?"

Sophia stepped closer. "Then why?"

He looked at her. Really looked at her.

"Because I liked her," he said. "I like her. Because when we were alone, and she touched me, and I kissed her back, it wasn’t because I thought she was an NPC. It was because, in that moment, none of this—Earth, the game, any of it—mattered. It was just her. And me."

Sophia blinked. Her arms dropped to her sides.

"I didn’t sleep with her because I thought she was fake," Liam went on. "I did it because she felt real. More real than anything I’ve felt since we got here."

Sophia was quiet for a long time. Then she turned away, rubbing her hand through her hair, the tension still visible in her posture.

"Well... you still screwed it up."

"I know."

"And you hurt her."

"I know that too."

Sophia glanced over her shoulder. "And you’ve hurt me."

Liam was stunned when he heard the words.