Mythos Of Narcissus: Reborn As An NPC In A Horror VRMMO

I took a step forward.

And suddenly—

I was somewhere else.

Not the hydroponic farm. Not the Landship. Not even Carcosa.

The world around me twisted in silence, as if reality itself had been flipped inside out.

Above me, the sky was not the sky.

Fishes with wings drifted lazily through the air, their translucent bodies gliding between invisible currents, their scales shimmering like polished glass. They moved without resistance, their fins undulating as if they were swimming through water that did not exist.

Below, actual water floated in midair, crystallizing into suspended bubbles, shifting between liquid and solid as if uncertain of what state it wished to be. Each droplet refracted an entire world within itself, tiny microcosms of places unseen.

And then—the plants marched.

They did not sway in the wind. They did not root themselves in the ground. They simply moved—like a marching soldier walking with their two legs.

Clusters of fungal growths crawled like insects, their tendrils twitching with unsettling awareness. Trees with inverted canopies shuffled forward, their roots barely skimming the ground as they wandered aimlessly. Blades of grass stretched and contracted, writhing in waves like a living ocean.

A world completely unbound by reason.

Yet—

I did not remember the transition that led me here.

No warning. No sign. No breach of space.

One moment, I was stepping into the hydroponic farm.

Next, I was somewhere beyond comprehension.

"...What the hell?"

My first instinct was to reach out—to grasp onto something that tethered me to reality.

But even before I could attempt a connection, I felt something familiar. A presence outside of myself—a distant, thin thread of time.

Kuzunoha.

Even in this place, I could still feel the contracted link between us. That meant, in some way, I was still bound to the logic of time as it flowed within Carcosa.

I focused, analyzing the relative passage of time between us.

And then, I understood.

It was warped. Stretched. Compressed.

"When I thought that Carcosa is chaotic, I didn't expect it to be this chaotic…"

Time in this place moved faster than in Carcosa.

If an hour passed here, only a minute passed on Kuzunoha's side.

Meaning—this realm existed under a different temporal law altogether.

I clicked my tongue, shifting my stance slightly as I turned in place, taking in the surreal peripheral view of this foreign realm.

I needed to understand.

I ran through the possibilities.

My mind, usually sharp and structured, now found itself wading through fragmented hypotheses, each one clawing for dominance. Yet, none felt complete. None truly explained the absurdity of this place.

I started with the most immediate suspect.

The Vitae Arboris & Carlotta Connection.

The ascended plant entity within my Landship had been undergoing constant evolution, its very nature shifting as it integrated with the neuromorphic network and absorbed entropy as a means of growth.

Was it possible that, in its expansion, the Vitae Arboris had projected an imprint of itself beyond Carcosa?

Could this place be a byproduct of that growth—a conceptual fragment, bleeding into my reality, detached from a tangible source?

It would make sense. The essence of existence could theoretically create a space where the rules were rewritten—where logic bent around the nature of its creator.

But something was off.

The Vitae Arboris' influence was contained, regulated, understood—an extension of my own domain, interwoven with my bastion, and bound within the laws of Carcosa to a great extent despite having more free will than a normal Cognitive Engine variant.

If it had created something this wild and unstable, I would have noticed long before I stepped into it.

No. This was bigger than an offshoot of the Vitae Arboris.

I moved on.

A Displaced Realm from a pivotal recurring event, perhaps?

Not too long ago, Carcosa itself had undergone a tectonic shift—a reshuffling of landmasses, a cosmic rearrangement that altered the very foundations of geography and reality.

I had seen entire citadels severed from their trade routes, bastions left stranded in wastelands that hadn't existed before. Even now, there were still unexplored lands that had never been there before the reshuffling.

Not to mention, the Time of Nihil.

Perhaps this realm had been one of those casualties.

A lost pocket of existence, torn from its original placement, now drifting aimlessly like a severed limb.

Somehow grabbing me, a chill and vibing individual who wants nothing but peace, love, and happiness.

It would explain the disorientation. The sense of disconnection from time and place.

But… no. That wasn't right either.

This place didn't feel like a remnant of something larger, nor was there anything connecting it to Carcosa itself.

There were no ruins, no echoes, no signs of a past existence, nor even a single familiar essences from the bizarre recurring events.

It wasn't a shattered fragment of a greater whole.

It felt like something that had never belonged anywhere to begin with.

Something that simply existed.

And that was even more unsettling.

Just as the implications began to settle, I felt it.

A disturbance, not external but deep within me—a flicker of something shifting in the recesses of my own soul.

Like a ripple on still water, it spread—soft yet undeniable, a presence brushing against the edges of my consciousness, stirring in the unseen depths where only one other resided.

And then, a voice.

Light. Playful. Mocking.

A whispered ray of void, piercing through the structure of my existence, brushing against the delicate threads that defined me—an eerie stroke of familiarity that slithered through my planarity.

"Getting lost, are we?"

I sighed, exhaling through my nose as I tilted my head slightly to the side.

Black Daffodil.

The one voice within me that I could never truly silence.

I didn't respond immediately. Instead, I let the silence stretch, the surreal atmosphere of this impossible place pressing around me as I tried to remove her presence from my mind.

Above, winged fish continued their lazy drift, their transparent fins catching the shifting light. Below, roots slithered like slow-moving serpents, tracing patterns in the soil that had never known permanence.

Somewhere in the distance, an entire column of water twisted upward like a frozen cyclone—except it wasn't frozen at all, merely suspended, droplets weaving in and out of solidity as if deciding whether to obey the rules of existence or not.

And yet, for all its chaos, all its absurdity—this place was eerily still.

Timeless.

Unclaimed.

I clicked my tongue. "You're late," I muttered telepathically, my thoughts slipping into the familiar rhythm of our exchanges. "I could've used some insight a few minutes ago."

A chuckle, laced with mischief.

"Oh, but it's fun watching you struggle. Not to mention… you didn't even try reaching out to me~"

Typical.

"Did you call just to be insufferable, or do you actually have something useful to say?"

"This realm," she mused, "It's not as vast as you think."

I frowned. My fingers twitched.

"Not vast?"

"Mm." A hum of amusement, the lilt of a smile I couldn't see but could feel. "Stretch your awareness. Go on. You'll see."

I exhaled through my nose, shifting my weight as I let my focus expand outward, spreading my perceptive extension.

A ripple spread from me—an unseen pulse rolling through the air like a wave in still water.

The world answered.

It mapped itself out before me, revealing its boundaries, its edges, its limits.

And just like that, I understood.

Black Daffodil was right.

This realm—for all its impossibilities, its surreal landscapes, its untamed phenomena—was no larger than a single meadow.

A self-contained space.

A pocket of existence, floating without purpose.

I let the revelation sink in, feeling the weight of this discovery, the implications curling around my thoughts.

How does a place like this exist?

An actual fragment? A forgotten echo of something once greater and grandiose? A failed creation?

Black Daffodil's voice interrupted my thoughts, carrying that same teasing lilt.

"Now, let me ask you—" She continued aiding me, taking pleasure in my reluctance to rely on her. "Do you sense anything else here? Anything with high existential height?"

Her voice was sing-song, but there was a keen edge beneath it—a hint of genuine curiosity masked beneath her usual amusement.

I smirked.

"Is this just an excuse for you to ask if there's anyone interesting around?"

For once, Black Daffodil didn't immediately respond.

That alone made my smirk widen.

"Are you lonely?" I pressed, amusement lacing my tone.

The sharpness returned to her voice almost immediately. "I am merely ensuring you don't get yourself killed."

Which was an elaborate way of avoiding the question.

Still, I followed her lead.

Entering the Floating Through Life state, I shifted the axis of my existence, allowing my awareness to transcend the limitations of conventional perception.

The world around me slowed—or rather, I detached from the flow of its motion entirely.

Everything became sharper, clearer—the thin veils between reality and unseen structures peeling away like mist in the morning sun.

I searched. I scanned. I observed.

And I found—

Nothing.

No entities.

No presence.

No claim.

I blinked.

"This place…" I murmured, letting the weight of the realization settle. "It's unclaimed."

Black Daffodil hummed, pleased.

"Which means…?"

I narrowed my eyes, piecing it together.

"Which means it was either abandoned long ago… or it was never created by anyone's will to begin with."

Both possibilities were equally intriguing.
Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

A realm without a ruler. A space without a past.

Realms always had owners—whether it be Carcosa with the King in Yellow, or Kuzunoha's mansion, or even the Spires of Theotech, still bound to the echoes of their past creators.

But this place?

This place was wild.

Untouched. Untamed. Without direction or claim.

Black Daffodil's chuckle returned, softer this time, yet still carrying that same sense of knowing amusement.

"Well, I'll leave you to it."

I could feel her withdrawing, slipping back into the depths of her hidden realm within me.

And then—she was gone.

I stood there in silence, letting the weight of the moment settle.

An ownerless realm.

A space outside of time.

A pocket of existence without direction.

I inhaled slowly.

Then maybe…

I should claim it for myself.