Two mages duel in a dark arena. Light streaks and flashes illuminate the place, revealing the mages as they summon creatures and throw ever more powerful spells at each other.
The light gets more and more intense, until their flash grows too strong for the eyes to see.
Rubert wakes up from his dream and opens his eyes to see the sunlight glinting off the half-charged AR lenses perched on his desk and right into his face. With a light chuckle, He tapped the frame, and the display flickered to life—layers of translucent data blooming over reality. Rubert strapped on his lenses, his phone and the lenses buzzed simultaneously, syncing with the game's servers as the startup logo swirled into focus.
Eidolon Break.
The game that had consumed the world.
A faint hum surrounded his ears as the scanners built in his lenses fired up and started to map his bedroom in real time. Not even 5 seconds after the point cloud was mapped, the 3D models of the calibration interface started to integrate with his room's surface in real time, and the game was ready to play. "A marvel of technology" he thought to himself. A ping drew his attention to the corner of his view: A message from the game's system:
ALERT: Rare Eidolon Spotted within the vicinity
Class: Summoner - Krivaa
Status: Untouched
Distance: 32 km
His heart skipped. "Thirty-two kilometers? That's... doable."
It has been two weeks since "Eidolon: Break!" launched as the debut game of the new AR glasses of the fourth generation: GleamView 2. Within days, the internet had been flooded with videos of people dodging spell glyphs in alleyways, summoning phantoms in city squares, and dueling across subway stations. It wasn't just a game—it had turned the entire world into a playable map.
And nothing had stirred the player base in these first weeks more than a single elusive spell: Krivaa.
Rumors said it was a summoning incantation. Others claimed it unlocked powerful hidden bosses if acquired. What everyone agreed on, though, was how to get it: defeat one of the rare Summoner-class Eidolons, raid bosses that only spawn once per day, at randomized locations, always at least 500 kilometers away from their previous appearance.
Only a thousand could exist globally at once. Only one party could earn the spell from each.
Rubert's fingers danced over his interface, confirming the coordinates of the closest boss spot: A forested mountain path just outside a neighboring town. The nearest train could get him within walking distance.
He grinned.
"Guess I'm going hiking."
The train ride was uneventful, but longer than expected.
He thought more people would attempt to get there in time, though he understood why they wouldn't. It's in the middle of the week, the mountain track is too far away from the closest big city, and the train ride constantly delays due to snow build up.
Facing all that, plus a hike to the trail, was too much to ask for most people.
But he wasn't most people. He had more free time than your usual 20 year old, living off of online gigs and savings, and his dedication to the game was unquestionable.
While hiking up the trail, he was surprised to see no locals hiking for the raid. The only other player he found was a boy that wanted to climb the mountain alone to get the card, but his mom wouldn't let him, and they argued on the entrance to the trail.
The mountain trail twisted between moss-covered rocks and tall pine trees. His legs burned with each step, but the subtle glow of game markers scattered around the path gave him strength—hints of illusions only visible through his AR lenses.
The render distance of his lenses were only limited by the range of his 360 lidar, as well as his own settings. Since his battery was half charged, he had limited his lidar range to be only 30 meters, judging it enough to follow the steps to the boss area, and planning to set it to around 100 meters once he got there.
He reached the summit clearing by hour twenty of the boss's limited 24-hour lifespan.
A delay with the train due to a snowstorm the other night caused him to lose nearly 15 hours to travel there, but he had made it.
The Eidolon Boss stood there, half-ethereal. A cloaked figure formed of broken chains and glimmering stone. Its movements were sluggish, dragging the chains of his wrist around and jogging side to side—waiting for the challenge to begin.
Rubert stepped forward, but an alert message stopped him when he stepped into the boundaries of the boss arena:
Class: Summoner - Krivaa
Team Required: 3 players.
Entry Conditions Unmet
His heart dropped.
"No... no, no no—come on!"
He had miscalculated. He had remembered the spawn timing, the travel distance, the gear he had to take—everything except this. He couldn't fight the boss alone.
He paced frantically. He couldn't call for randoms this far out. He had no friends he could play the game with, especially near this town. Nobody else was around.
"I guess I'll just take the loss and go back... I'll get the chance again someday I hope" he thought to himself. But just before he could start his walk back he heard it: Voices.
Two girls came up the path behind him, out of breath but cheerful.
"This hike is longer than they said," said the one in the hoodie, pulling her hood back. She had short black hair, sharp eyes, and earbuds still hanging loose from her collar.
"Totally worth it, though," her friend replied, taller, with long auburn hair and a DSLR bouncing against her chest.
Rubert blinked. They were just... hikers? Not players?
Then his lenses pinged. Both girls had Eidolon Break installed. Inactive accounts. Newbie status.
"Not Perfect... but it's worth the shot" He thought. After mustering up some courage, he uttered:
"Hey!" he called out, trying not to sound too desperate. "Do you two... play Eidolon Break?"
The girls stopped. They looked at each other for a second, to confirm he was addressing them, then replied:
"I downloaded it," said the short-haired one. "Never even opened it. Was gonna delete it after this hike."
"You can delete it later," Rubert said quickly. "I need your help. I can't fight this boss alone—it requires a team of three. You won't have to do much, I swear. I just need you to join the party so I can start the raid."
They exchanged a look. The taller one shrugged.
"Could be fun."
"...Seriously?" the shorter girl asked.
"Come on, Noelle. You always say you'll try something new."
The girl—Noelle—sighed. "Fine. But if I die in a laser explosion or something, I'm haunting you two."
Rubert and the other girl chuckle a bit before they introduce themselves.
"I'm Rubert," he introduced himself. "And you won't regret this, I promise!"
"Call me Sabrina" the girl said "And this is Noelle, my younger cousin".
"Liar, I'm older than you!"
"But you're so small, you must be younger!" Sabrina replied, her face clearly showing a half-covered smirk as she teases her cousin.
"Looks like I found a fun party at least... Hopefully this works out!"
It took them half an hour to set up. Their AR interfaces blinked into sync, and Rubert quickly scanned the spells they had—standard starter loadouts. Minor buffs. Basic projectiles. No advanced glyphs, no area effects, a single powerful but slow finishing spell was the best he could muster.
Total junk.
But Rubert wasn't out of options. If he could keep the Eidolon's aggro, Noelle could cycle a stun loop, and Sabrina—the taller one—had a debuff and a smokescreen spell that might just be enough to blind the enemy at key moments. The plan wasn't perfect. But it was possible.
And when the raid began, the world shifted, the sky turned red, and the fight had officially begun.
The Eidolon shrieked, its form flickering in and out of view. Glyphs spiraled in the air, lighting up the forest with streaks of light. Then, from the ground, a creature was summoned to aid the monster. Their plans had to be reassessed, but there was no time. Rubert dashed between illusions, shouted spell commands, and watched as Sabrina timed her debuff spell with uncanny instinct and landed her attack on both targets before they had the chance of splitting up.
Noelle hit her cue perfectly, casting a binding spell on the enemy summon. The enemy caster retaliated, and she was forced to duck behind real trees for cover.
That was it. A single moment of distraction from the monster was all it took for Rubert to land his spell on the monster: "Rashaata!!" he shouted, and a piercing shriek echoed out of his hand and spread through the forest, followed by a beam of red light. Though slow to cast and normally easy to dodge or defend against, this was the most powerful offensive spell he had.
It landed. The Eidolon collapsed, exploding into digital blood, Rubert gasped for breath.
The boss then stood up again, seemingly unharmed at first. On a second look, Rubert noticed that the enemy HP bar was nearly halved and, though the enemy boss was still standing, his summon had dissipated.
He dashed for cover immediately. The boss followed up with a wave of magic attacks.
"He used a switch spell" —Rubert yelled— "He killed his summon so he could stay alive. We just need to hit him one more time before he has the chance to summon again".
And just as he finished his sentence, the monster started casting another spell. First, a few fire wisps surrounded the creature, serving as his shield, then he began using the summoning spell again: "KRIVAA!!!" it shouted, Noelle's startled voice could be heard from somewhere in the woods soon after.
As the monster began taking form, Sabrina stood up and fired a smokescreen spell at the target. Rubert used a spell to see through thin magical objects and was able to see the creatures through the smoke. He joined his hands to form a circle, the red fiery spell began forming, but this time the fire wisps flew right at him before he could complete the spell.
He was done for.
Or he would be, if it wasn't for Noelle.
"Astral Bind!" she shouted, finally taking some courage to stand up and out of the three covers and use her binding spell at what she thought was the enemy summon that was attacking Rubert.
The enemy's defensive spell was stopped mid-air, "Rashaata!!" the shriek of Rubert's spell finally exploded into light once again, completing the cast and firing the jolt of red light toward the enemy.
Spell Acquired: Krivaa.
The text hovered before him like a blessing.
They had done it.
"I can't believe we won," Sabrina said, pulling her lenses off.
"That was... kinda awesome," Noelle admitted, blinking. "This game's actually not terrible."
Rubert laughed. "Told you."
"But how did that last spell that Noelle casted even hit? Do binding spells stop magic too?" Sabrina asked.
"Not really... Those were wisps. Noelle was lucky, the spell wouldn't work against a magical attack since binding spells only work on "living" targets, but the wisps were also a form of summon, and technically a living magical creature too, so they were affected by it."
Rubert was guessing too—he'd never tested binding spells on wisps before, but he's relieved that it worked.
"So this proves I'm way smarter than you guys, right?" Noelle said with a smug.
"Sure sure, just don't hurt yourself when you trip on all that ego!" Sabrina said, barely containing her chuckle, and Rubert laughed louder than he had in a long time.
"It felt good, right? to beat this thing for good?"
"Yeah!" both girls said in sync.
He smiled. That smile wouldn't disappear for the whole day.
On the way down the mountain, they passed two groups of players climbing up, out of breath and frustrated.
"You guys were in the raid?" one asked.
Rubert nodded.
"Did you get the spell?"
He showed them the glowing icon, and a cheer broke out among the strangers. Someone even asked for a picture.
It was surreal. But for the first time, Rubert felt like he'd earned something that mattered—not just in-game, but out here in the real world too.
Before they parted ways, Noelle nudged him.
"You said you play this a lot, right?" —she looked a bit embarassed to ask.
"Yeah?"
"I heard there's a tournament coming up," Sabrina added. "Think we could actually... train? Together?"
Rubert grinned. "I'll send the invite tonight."
And just like that, he wasn't just a solo player anymore.
He had a team.