basically i was playing this game, it was like an MMO where you're a magic user who studies a specific aspect of magic that you choose. i was playing it but i started to get hungry so i wanted to take a break. however, no matter how hard i looked through the games' menus, i couldn't find a quit button, so i figured i'd keep playing until i found an appropriate time to stop.
i recall most of the game being set in this massive building that looked sort of like a cathedral, but it was structured like a college. people were working on various experiments, raising creatures, battling each other with magic, etc. anyway, at this point i go into a classroom, and this professor is explaining how to build your character and pursue a "specialization". we're all talking and it goes by pretty normally until the teacher asks us to choose an "element".
some other people choose ordinary things like fire and water, which they then gain abilities in. however, while nobody notices me, i get up and examine a statue in the room. i'm immediately in awe of the statue, which i'm told contains the spirit of a powerful deity that watches over us. the sheer presence of the statue consumes me, and suddenly i lust for its power. "i choose this. i will take its spirit". for a moment everyone in the classroom looks at me with a bewildered expression. the professor says, in a skeptical and harsh tone, "take it?" "yes," i confirm. "taking it is forbidden," he tells me. i do it anyway.
in an instant, everything i'm looking at has this red tone. the forms of people around me distort and eventually disappear. "is life a joke to you?" the professor asks before i leave. i become trapped inside the game, like i'm looking through a VR headset that i can't take off.
the whole environment of the building becomes quite terrifying. i can't remember all of the details, but there were a lot of strange creatures and anomalies roaming that seemed threatening, though it didn't feel like they wanted to attack me. most of the people also disappeared.
i try numerous times to quit the game. after realizing there was no menu option for doing so, i used alt+f4 to force close the game, but after a couple of minutes, it automatically reopened itself, exactly back where i left it. i roamed the halls of the cathedral for hours, trying to find something to change my fate.
eventually i decide its best to go for the nuclear option. i unplug my computer and turn off the monitor. i planned to even remove the hard drive so that the game wouldn't have any way of booting, but to my amazement, before i could even do that, the screen turned back on and forced me back into the game.
after a while i forcequit the game again, and before it comes back on again, i remember the picture of lain on my wall and stare at it for a moment. she appears on my screen in glitchy form, distorting and cutting off as she speaks. "you would come to me for help? how flattering. but i'm sorry, you're already doomed. your time is up. just like the rest of them. the rest of them. the rest of them." she fades into static until eventually disappearing.
that's where i woke up