Prologue
To this date and time, no one exactly knows why it happened, or how it could have happened. However on that most curious and most strange day, a little over six million humans disappeared from the face of earth.
It was most curious because no one had seemed to notice six million people suddenly disappearing. One would think that at least someone could tell when a person vanished in front of their very eyes, but it was not until a day later, when police reports started pouring in and people started panicking, that everyone started to notice. There was a media uproar, of course; countless workers missing, students not attending school, and pockets of individuals from all walks of life, gone and leaving no trace behind. All immediate attempts to look for the whereabouts of six million provided no results. In fact, not even after public cameras and satellites were meticulously checked by the government and the military, did anyone have the smallest hint of where, or how it became possible for so many people to disappear at once. It was as if there was a giant gap in which everyone lost track of time for a few moments.
It was most strange because at the beginning, no one really understood why a select number of people were suddenly gone. Terrorism became the very first theory that received public acceptance. However, when no one stepped in to claim all the credit, the theory began to lose its strength as it was scrutinized further by the media. They often stated, -"Are we even certain that any type of known terrorism could pull off such a feat, and get away with the disappearance of millions of people from every corner of the planet?"-, Everyone became aware that the United States ended as the country with the most incidents, which in turn spurred the idea of terrorism, but this piece of information still managed to explain nothing, besides filling a few statistic charts with demographic information. And so terrorism as an idea quickly withered, and died. Then came in as a contender alien abduction fantasies, each one more impossible than the last. Religion wanted a share of the spotlight, of course, and so did corporations and social media. Eventually there were more theories than people who could actually think of them, and so it was deemed necessary to shift one's attention to more pressing matters;
What to do next?
The largest question was without a doubt, their whereabouts. However, minds most curious and discerning had questions perhaps a shade more interesting than the obvious one. Would this incident happen again? Or, wherever this group of people may be, were they still alive? And if so, were they somehow trying to claw their way back into existence? Perhaps six million of people were now in a different plane of existence, fighting for their survival, desperate for help from their original home. Maybe they were residing in a new world, or a different dimension, or any possible and impossible form of being. No one could, or would tell in the end. Nevertheless, a special force was created with the task of finding the answer to these difficult questions. It was comprised of the world's most cunning minds: physicists and doctors, detectives and the military, mathematicians and cryptologists, the government, qualified graduates and one or two eager citizens that promised a good contribution to the cause. Each of them using their available means; Some knocking on doors, calling phones, leaving notices behind. The most capable ones using supercomputers, data centers and all manner of top-of-the-line equipment. But after a few days, even with all of that manpower, the only thing they had to report was that the large majority of the people who disappeared were between the ages of eighteen and thirty, with very few people below that age, and even less above it. There were no visible connections between all of them, and not the slightest hint of where they may have gone.
It was not until sometime later when everyone was about to give up that, by mere chance, a disgruntled and annoyed worker came to a government facility to file a complaint about his work environment, and to request assistance in acquiring basic necessities. In his application the worker stated that he believed he was played a cruel joke, as his whole company suddenly stopped going to work for no apparent reason, and because of that, he stopped receiving his salary. The official, baffled at the worker, proceeded to file his complaint as any other government official would do. Luckily however, this bizarre application piqued the interest of the correct individuals, and to the renewed frenzy of the remaining population, something more interesting than a few lost wages was found; something that would finally shed some light on the mass disappearances of that fateful day.
Further investigation revealed this to be a company which was related to the entertainment industry; more specifically, a video-game company. Of course, there were several other businesses that had complete disappearances altogether, but this one was most intriguing as the number of workers was high enough that it could not simply be coincidence for all of them to disappear at once without a related link, other than working for the same company. A quick checkup revealed that all of its services were online, and its games still being played by the general population. All of them, except one.
Final Fantasy XIV.
With enough time, and more knocking on doors, it became apparent that the entirety of the people who disappeared on that day not only played, but also paid for the game known as Final Fantasy XIV. This in turn gave birth to a whole new myriad of theories and countless possibilities about what could have happened. The most accepted theory was that somehow, and someway, all these players were transported inside the game. Of course, at the beginning this was highly disputed on the grounds that it was an extremely childish proposal, and yet no one could really provide a better alternative or explanation. And as the euphoria of the event died and the masses settled down, it ended up in becoming the accepted theory.
The kennels of history from that point on will further detail all the failures in attempting to reconnect with these players, the several attempts at recreating the events that led to the disappearances, the many theories which were discarded and picked up again, as well as the ambitious plans of governments and greedy corporations in attempt to both prevent, and exploit the situation, which ultimately led to dark, very dark times in the history of mankind.
That story is, however, for another time and place. For on that most curious and most strange day, six million souls would perceive a different light...