Days passed, my account kept getting bigger and I was definitely bored. I felt like developing something yet I did not know what. It felt like something was calling me, it was … strange to say the least. A call from far away, so far it was more instinct than anything for I could not "hear" it but feel it.
I knew my game made people believe things but it did nothing to me so, and I lacked evidences, so it was mostly hearsay to me. I played it for hours, made some update to fix bugs I never imagined (players were really imaginative sometimes) and still never experienced what they all were writing about. I gave up after about twenty hours.
Now, now I was just trying to make sense of this strange feeling. It was maddening.
One day, I decided to buy Lovecraft book: "call of Cthulhu" … and privately wondered if my game could be considered plagiarism. It was enlightening and gave a lot of path for the game. Still, I felt like I was missing something so I kept searching, be it on the internet or on libraries.
It took me two days to find it. Kthanid, the elder god. I would add him in the next update. From what I found, and it was limited, his known powers were astral projection, Prescience and banishing blast. None of them were useful for to fight but I know the players would find some use for those future skills. Skills they would only get if Kthanid decided to bless them, after they completed near impossible quests to ask for said blessing. Even if they completed it I decided to block it at one skill per blessing with a random chance to get one of them.
I did not want to make the game too easy after all, most if not all of the game's community loved it for the difficulty and "side effects" I never experienced or could see.
I started to work on it immediately after finding it, new ideas popping along the way and finally, after a few all-nighters and thermos of coffee, I decided to dramatically make the update.
The players around the world would have their game stop, start download with a black screen and white writing:
XoX
The game closed itself, the computer screen went dark and a strange message appeared:
"Elysia's doors are opening"
Usually the small updates and bug fixes would be almost transparent, a message sent to everyone launcher and disconnection for those that ignored it. Then, the players would need to download a small patch and that was it.
Yet this time, it was not a small download, a whole new system was added to the game. The first one able to play after the update, those with a better connection were excited like nothing before. Aside from new cosmetics and titles, a questline was now available.
The first true questline.
People around the world wanted to know how it would benefit them as the game itself was already a life changing thing. What more could they get from this game?
SHIELD was already on it, as were others spies' agencies and while they were making good progress, the quests were proving to be hellishly difficult. Those trying the questline also mentioned hearing a new voice, telling them to keep going. Some described it as a father supporting his child, cheering on him.
Even so, with all the people following it, none were near finishing it and the curiosity brought even more people to try and be the first to complete it. Forum were created to share clues and strategies as some of the trials were proving too much for most people. Those helping? They were called the elders by the community while the trolls were called spawns. Still, those titles gave a sense of belonging to the players be it elders, spawns or just explorers of the depths.
Same even said, the creator of the game would add them in an updates soon, rumors most likely.