When the game launched, there was no main menu. He was simply there . Pilgor wasn't in San Angora anymore; she was standing in a hyper-realistic recreation of Elias's own bedroom.

"Funny," Elias muttered, leaning closer. "The devs must have scraped my IP or something for a meta-joke."

Suddenly, a quest notification popped up in the corner of the screen:

Version 208909: Synchronization Complete. Who's the GOAT now?

He froze. He moved the mouse to make Pilgor look at the mirror in the game. In the reflection, he didn't see a goat; he saw a shadowy version of himself, but with horizontal, rectangular pupils.