He clicked the flashing silver button. The download bar crawled across the screen like a digital centipede.

The studio went dark. Elias sat in the silence, realizing that while he was busy cracking the software, the software had been busy cracking him.

Elias reached for the power cord, but the screen turned a deep, bruised purple. A single line of text appeared in the center of his masterpiece:

The interface bloomed to life. Tools he’d only seen in tutorials were now his to command. For six hours, Elias was a god. He built a city of glass and light, the textures so sharp they looked real. But then, the screen flickered.