The game wasn't a story about taboo; it was a digital cage. And Elias realized with a chill that the "Setup" hadn't just installed a game on his PC—it had synced his house to the manor.
A text box appeared at the bottom of the screen: “Welcome home, Elias. We’ve been waiting for the family to gather.”
Elias moved his character toward a mirror at the end of the hall. When he looked in, the avatar wasn't a generic hero. It was a perfect, digital recreation of Elias himself—down to the specific coffee stain on his hoodie.