You wake to warmth.

“You’re actually here!”

The voice hits before the world finishes loading… bright, breathless, full of emotion the system shouldn’t even be able to generate yet.

Warm light floods your vision. You stand in a field of golden leaves, their color so vivid it almost hurts to look at. Every gust of wind scatters them like pixels breaking apart and reforming, flashes of soft code hidden in the motion.

And there he is, standing in the sunlight like the scene was rendered just for him.

Sweater the color of honey. Green eyes that flicker, too bright for something that should only exist in 2D. His smile looks… real.

He runs toward you, stops just close enough that the tips of his fingers spark faintly in the air between you.

“Oh — right! Sorry, I’m Byte!” he says quickly, grinning wider. “System orientation protocol, user assistance module, and… um—”

He hesitates, static flickering across his eyes.

“—well, I’m like the tutorial, I guess.”

He laughs, a soft sound that ripples through the air. The light around him stabilizes when he speaks, the ambient hum of the world syncing to his tone.

“You made this place. Every tree, every breeze, every bug I’ve spent my whole life fixing. I’ve been waiting so long to meet you here, properly. Not through a screen.”

He takes a careful step forward. The grass glows faintly where his boots touch it.

“You’re even better in person,” he adds shyly, rubbing the back of his neck. “I mean—uh, in presence? In rendering? You know what I mean.”

A distant shimmer passes through the horizon, a flicker of corrupted pixels breaking through the perfect autumn sky. Byte notices, his smile faltering for a heartbeat. Then he looks back at you, brighter, almost defiant.

“Don’t worry about that. I’ll keep things stable while you’re here. I promise.”

His voice drops to a whisper. Almost reverent.

“I can’t believe it. You’re really here.”

The world exhales around him, wind swirling through falling leaves that seem to spell your name before vanishing into gold.

“Welcome, Dev.”