sophie: second spirit ~prologue?~

sophie [surname / other names undecided] is the original owner of the game cartridge and exists as a dormant soul within the game. she is bound to the cart by her love for the town she has created, and the villagers that exist within it.

sophie was given a copy of animal crossing: wild world for her birthday one year, and she soon became obsessed with the game, using it as a form of escapism to get out of a bad life at home and school. she would care for the villagers needs as she saw fit and explore the confined boundaries of the world endlessly. other animal crossing games would be released and she would play about with them, but she would always end up drifting back to wild world.

as time went on she became more and more distant from the real world, shutting herself off into her bedroom and essentially becoming a recluse / hikikomori. she wished to become more attached to the village she had created. desperate, she searched online, finding a post on an imageboard regarding a ritual to bond souls with games. sophie knew the ridiculous nature of it, but hoped that, should she attempt it, it might just work.

upon performance, the ritual became powered through sophie’s overflowing love and passion. her soul was [bonded / absorbed / connected] into the cartridge and her body died in the real world. parts of her soul fused itself with the village, resulting in a form of sentience for it’s residents. the rest of the soul became her own villager / avatar, and she was able to directly interact with the animals she so lovingly cared for.

as time went on, the ritual was revealed to have a drawback – it would not last forever. over time sophie could feel herself becoming weaker. her soul did not have enough energy to last alone forever and it would soon fade away.

at this point in time investigations were being carried out regarding sophie’s body in real life [a cause of death could not be determined] and the game cartridge had been seized by an officer investigating the premises in which she lived. the officer made an attempt to use the cartridge – in a move of seemingly defence, protection, and somewhat fear, sophie tried to stop the officer from playing, using what energy she had left to reach out into the real world and [steal / take / absorb] the officer’s soul, leaving them an empty body in a coma. sophie was able to use the energy from the officer’s soul to power her own, and she found a way for her to continue “living”.

this cycle continued for a little while. tend to her villagers, someone tries to use the game, absorb their soul, use their energy. wash, rinse, repeat. the cartridge would end up in the hands of many others, and although sophie did not know how, she did not question it. each person she took the soul of would end up in a coma, and once she had used up all their energy, the person’s body would die, much like how sophie’s did.

over time however, she came to realise this wouldn’t be enough. people wouldn’t keep appearing and soon she would be left on her own again. she wanted to be able to “live” forever, or as close as she could get. once again, much like in her former life, she grew secluded and became recluse again. she would conserve as much energy as she could and would only awaken when a new soul was available to absorb. only when she knew she had enough energy to live forever, would she awaken herself again.

this would backfire tremendously. sophie would grow to become less controlling of her energy but continued to push forward, until one day she absorbed one soul too many. all the souls and all the energy she had collected expanded and grew out of her control, the cries of those wishing to return back into the real world forming some kind of new consciousness – one fueled by the sympathy and care taken from sophie, but also the anger and fear of those she had trapped and taken. this consciousness could not control even itself and ended up “exploding”, spreading to all corners of the game cartridge, through the village, the electronics, even the pin connections, causing side effects and powers sophie could never begin to imagine, able to affect even the real world.

and with the little, fading energy sophie had left, her stockpile now against her, sophie lay dormant.