Game Over

Blue and red lights flashed against the ceiling, casting strobing shadows across the bedroom. The audio was loud—wailing sirens, heavy boots thumping up the stairwell.

Elias sat on the floor, leaning against the nightstand.

Clara lay motionless on the bed. Her Affinity bar was gone. The wedding dress in the other room had been torn down during his entry, a pile of white ruined silk on the floor.

Elias looked at his hands. They were sticky.

A golden banner unfurled across his entire field of vision, accompanied by a triumphant orchestral fanfare that only he could hear.

**[QUEST COMPLETE: BRIDE SECURED]**

**[TRUE ROUTE UNLOCKED]**

"I did it," Elias whispered, a smile spreading across his face. "I saved you."

The door to the apartment burst open. Men in uniforms poured in, weapons drawn, shouting commands that appeared as subtitles at the bottom of his vision.

*“POLICE! HANDS IN THE AIR!”*

Elias didn't move. He didn't feel the cold metal of the handcuffs as they dragged him up. He didn't feel the rough carpet against his cheek as they forced him down.

He just watched the black screen, waiting for the credits to roll. He had won. He had reached the Happy Ending.

But the credits didn't roll. The screen just stayed black. And for the first time, in the crushing darkness of the police cruiser, Elias wondered why the game wouldn't let him save his progress.