Suddenly, a chat box popped up in the corner of the screen. You wanted it Salt Free, Elias.

Elias lunged for the power cord and ripped it from the wall. The monitor died instantly, but the smell remained.

On his screen, the beautiful white world began to liquefy. The textures ran like melting wax. The NPCs dissolved into gray puddles. Then, a sharp, acrid smell began to drift from his PC tower—the smell of burning ozone and something strangely metallic.

The fluorescent lights of the "Glitch & Grind" internet cafe flickered as Elias stared at the search bar. His bank account was a graveyard of single digits, but his desire to play Aether’s Edge —the year’s biggest open-world RPG—was very much alive.