《Sinner's Game》 1 - Nightmares and Butterflies --- This Novel features content which may not be suitable for some readers! Discretion is adviced! --- Anna Hurried steps on plastic flooring echoed through the endless seeming pathways of the labyrinth as Anna barely managed to drag herself ahead. Not far behind her, the slightly out of tune melody of a music box assisted by rapid metallic clanking crept closer and closer as she hurried through the various turns and twists which presented themselves in front of her. Anna turned a corner as she pulled herself inside of another hallway consisting of bright colours and shapes. All sorts of giant children¡¯s toys towered high towards the horizon, creating massive walls too tall to even see the top of them. Ominous red light was cast over the area as the reddened, starless sky stared down upon her, covering the entire scenery in crimson shade. She almost tripped over a bunch of oversized marbles ¨C which laid randomly spread across the colourful tiled floor ¨C but barely managed to catch herself before returning to run for her life. This wasn¡¯t how it was supposed to turn out. The others could be anywhere by now, and she felt like her body could collapse on the spot as soon as she stopped moving. Every part of her being urged her to rest ¨C to stop ¨C but the fear kept her pushing forward. This fucking idiot, she thought. This is all his fault. The barely out of tune music had gotten quieter after she had turned the corner, so Anna decided to take the opportunity and turn her head while running to get a brief glance at the area behind her. Right as she did, the melody suddenly increased in volume as the abomination of a being slid around the corner. Rows of metallic, scissor-like feet left scratching marks on the plastic flooring as the being stumbled and dragged itself forward. The expressionless smirk on its eyeless white mask hid what appeared to be its head. It pointed towards Anna as its black, oozy body rolled forward. Some lines of reflection ascended from its body upwards, but it was difficult to make out their source. Anna continued dashing forward, her eyes locked on the next corner where she hoped to find a hiding spot, or ¨C even better ¨C a way out of this realm of nightmares. The Doll-Maker screeched in inhuman frequencies. Then, a sharp hissing cut through the air as something embedded itself into the floor close to Anna. Then again. And again. One of the sharp, thin objects darted right past her ¨C just close enough to be in her field of vision for the glimpse of a second ¨C then got stuck inside of a giant teddy bear¡¯s stomach not too far away. A line of shimmer reflected from the point where the object had landed to behind Anna¡¯s field of vision. As the Doll-Maker realized it had struck cotton, the object flew back to where it had come from. Needles. It throws needles attached to strings. Anna could feel her pulse inside of her throat as she successfully managed to dodge another salvo of needles before drifting around the long awaited corner. She took a hurried glance at the opportunities presented in front of her, her eyes darting back and forth from item to item in rapid succession. The out of tune notes increasingly grew in volume as she struggled to keep herself together. Then she spotted something: a ball-pit built into the floor, pretty close to one of the endless towering walls of playthings. Hundreds, if not thousands of plastic balls created an ocean of neon colours. Anna manifested her remaining energy, ran to the pit, and threw herself into the safe haven of colourful spheres below. The mechanical clawing inched closer as Anna dug herself deeper and deeper down the ball-pit, using her hands as shovels in an attempt to cover herself fully before it was too late. It went dark around her, the red filter of the sky now out of sight. Finally, some pleasing darkness. Finally, some rest for her eyes. The cheerful colours had started to freak her out. She ceased all movement and held her breath as the music¡¯s source once again inched closer. The melody had gotten calmer now, slow and almost in tune. Anna knew it waited for her to move a single muscle, to make a single noise, anything. Any mistake would be fatal now. She hoped for the creature to just pass by, to leave her alone. And if she couldn¡¯t find her way home afterwards, she was going to return to this pit. And so Anna decided, deep down hidden from the reddened realm, that if everything went wrong, she would just stay in here. And then she would be safe from all the dangers of the flamboyant world above, silently waiting until the hands of faith put her to rest. --- Earlier that day Hendrick No¡­ I am so close. Overwhelming pain spread itself through Hendrick¡¯s entire body as it was crushed down to the floor. It felt as if gravity had just been multiplied to a force too great for humans to bear. Hendrick fixed his stare on the door in front of him as his entire body struggled in a desperate attempt to get up. He felt the pressure rise as he stared down the doorknob with pain driven gaze. It was close ¨C so close ¨C but barely out of reach. He managed to lift up his right arm with shivering movements, his whole body shaking as he tried to reach for the door. Hendrick somehow got one hand on the doorknob, tried to turn it, but gravity increased again, causing his arm to violently crash into the floor with a loud crack. No¡­ Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation. The air got forced out of his lungs as the rest of Hendrick¡¯s body started being crushed. Then, he felt his bones turning against his insides as his vision started to fade. Darkness enveloped him. Then, a familiar shape burned itself into the back of his mind for just a split second. --- Hendrick got ripped out of his nightmare by his alarm clock ringing on the nightstand next to his bed as he jolted upwards into a sitting position. The sound of it was already engraved into his brain, the high-pitched ringing noise emitting from the little metal device hurting in his ears like usual. The first pillow he threw at the troublemaker missed and tossed over an empty cup, which had been peacefully resting on his nightstand. An unnerved sigh escaped his lips. ¡°Damn it. Could have sworn I would make it this time.¡± The relentless ringing got silenced by Hendrick¡¯s fist as he hit the snooze button, then turned the alarm off for good. His pulse slowed down, but now his tiny hand hurt a little. Ah... peaceful silence, he thought. Sadly, he knew it was only going to last for a short duration of time. ¡°3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­¡± he whispered to himself. A feminine, lightly muffled voice reached into the young male¡¯s room, ¡°Henry? You already awake? Breakfast is almost ready.¡± Hendrick could lip-sync every single word of his ¡®mother¡¯ while she spoke. He had heard that line way too often already. ¡°Yea mom,¡± Hendrick announced with an ironic pace in his speech, ¡°Give me 5 minutes to change and brush my teeth.¡± ¡°Alright sweetheart, don¡¯t forget to wash your face,¡± the sugar coated voice behind the door responded, followed by the sound of footsteps on stairs getting quieter with every step. The room returned to comforting silence. The only noise left was the ticking of the alarm clock... almost as if it refused to shut up for good. There needs to be a way I can get through that damn door, he thought. But how? He stretched out a little to get the tiredness ¨C tiredness which wasn¡¯t caused by his lack of sleep ¨C out of his body. Hendrick then got out of bed, turned to look out of his window. A single butterfly had landed on a tree branch close to his window. He looked at it, felt his expression tighten. ¡°Today I will break this circle of hell,¡± he said. ¡°And I will finally be free again.¡± --- Hendrick sauntered over to the little bathroom ¨C which was just a corner to the left away from his room ¨C and shut the door behind him. He made sure to lock it ¨C standing on his tiptoes while doing so ¨C as a swift turning movement of his right hand made sure no one would be able to disturb his well earned privacy. His ¡®father¡¯ would be here very soon, and every second he didn¡¯t need to interact with him or the rest of his family was a good one. He moved the little staircase ¨C which was positioned under the bathroom sink ¨C in position, climbed up, and viewed upon himself in the big round mirror which hung on the wall. His head was barely visible. If he got on his tiptoes yet again, the most of his face could be seen, but that was about it. Straw blond hair rested on his head, the round shape of a pot cut covering parts of the forehead above his roundish face. Hendrick leaned over the sink, scrambled around until he had fetched the toothpaste and toothbrush which had been placed just within range for him. He put some of the toothpaste, which looked a little like red ice cream, on the brush and started brushing his teeth. The taste of strawberries filled his mouth. He frowned. Hendrick¡¯s appearance was the one of a child, 11 years old to be precise. His hair covered his ears, and his ocean blue eyes stared at themselves in the mirror in an indifferent manner. He was rather chubby for his age, and his pale skin was sprinkled with freckles mostly around his cheeks. He kind of looked like the weird neighbourhood kid no one wanted to play with. Which wasn¡¯t entirely true. His self loathing got interrupted by a slightly off sounding rhythmical knocking on the door. Hendrick¡¯s grip around the toothbrush tightened slightly. He already knew who it was. A very quiet dripping sound could be heard from the other side of the bathroom door. ¡°Good morning my little sunshine,¡± his ¡®father¡¯ said. And you could literally hear his voice vomiting rainbows as he spoke. ¡°Hurry up, mommy made your favourite breakfast!¡± ¡°Okay dad, I will be downstairs soon,¡± he said in a slightly muffled tone, the toothpaste in his mouth limiting his ability of speech. He could hear his father move downstairs as well. Hendrick hated how his ¡®father¡¯ spoke to him. It was the usual: ¡®I don¡¯t want my child to be confronted with any kind of bad stuff¡¯ way of talking he did all the time, which annoyed him the most. He took another pitied look in the mirror before spitting out his toothpaste. This was so stupid. Hadn¡¯t he already suffered enough? Maybe he could convince them to let him go if he just asked nicely? No, they surely wouldn¡¯t let him go that easily. He had to readjust his plan, find the missing step, and somehow manage to break through. But Hendrick never recalled just asking like that before, so he decided it would be worth a try. ¡°Hey, you guys?¡± he said. ¡°How long do I have left before I can leave this place? Can¡¯t you just let me go now?¡± For a fraction of a second, just the blink of an eye, it appeared like the lines of reality had shuffled a little, causing a slight distortion in Hendrick¡¯s view. Yet, nothing happened. Like expected, he thought. But worth a try. After jumping down the little staircase, the boy pulled on his clothes, which laid ¨C already folded and ready ¨C on a small dresser close to the sink. It was meagrely one metre high, which was perfect for him to reach. His parents had built it just for him... how cute. The clothes fit him perfectly. He readjusted his shirt, then sat down to think. I need to squeeze out every last minute of planning time I can get without getting punished, he thought. Otherwise I might fail again. A few more minutes went by as he sorted his thoughts, ideas and strategies, which he had come up with in the last weeks, if not even months. He never had been good at time management, but the current situation made him lose track of the days, and he had stopped counting a while ago. Sadly, he couldn¡¯t write anything down, since it would never stay in its place. A loud mechanical clanking interrupted Hendrick¡¯s thoughts as a red sign popped up in front of his vision. It was bright and flashy, transparent yet still clearly visible. It remained in the centre of his vision, even if he turned his head or closed his eyes. There were exclamation marks all over it. In the middle of it, there was a thick white text written in capital letters: ¡°Delay detected. Please proceed! If ignored, punishing measurements will be undertaken.¡± Seems like my thinking time is over for now, he thought while getting up then crossing to the door. He unlocked it with a turn of his hand, then swung it open with a silent creak. The sign disappeared. Outside the bathroom, the smell of bakery products and sweetness welcomed him. He walked along the rather short hallway ¨C light blue wallpaper plastered alongside its otherwise rather cold looking concrete walls ¨C before turning right to go towards the stairs. Hendrick ignored the trail of small blood drops his father had left behind. He took one deep breath before placing the first step on the dark oak staircase. --- Hendrick¡¯s parents, as well as his little sister Lea, were already sitting on the round kitchen table as he descended the stairs. He sat down on his chair without gazing up, focused on his food as his family started eating while asking the usual questions: ¡°Did you sleep well, honey?¡± his mother asked, acting out great interest. ¡°Yes, mom¡­¡± he responded in a monotone manner. ¡°Are you looking forward to another great day at school?¡± ¡°Yes, mom¡­¡± ¡°Are you sorry?¡± His mother¡¯s voice remained in the same calming, nice tone. The other family members didn¡¯t react to the out of the blue question. Hendrick stayed silent as his mother continued eating as if nothing had happened. He impaled a piece of pancake with his fork, chewing it slowly. It tasted like sponge. He put down the fork, in an attempt to delay the inevitable fate nicely arranged in front of him. He wouldn''t be able to handle eating this shit again. It had grown him tired long ago. Another message-box popped up in his field of vision ¨C the usual uncomfortable metallic sound attached to it ¨C as the surrounding area froze. No eating sounds of his family, no forks or knives on plates, nothing. ¡°Warning! Proceed like usual or punishing measurements will be undertaken!¡± Hendrick stared down the pile of strawberries resting on his plate, wanted to puke. He attempted to erase them with his gaze, but they didn¡¯t budge. Hesitant fingers placed on the cool metal of the fork. After he picked one strawberry up, the box vanished as fast as it had appeared, and the metallic screeching sound, which had been slowly increasing in volume, disappeared together with it. The eating sounds returned. ¡°You sure love your strawberries, son,¡± his father said. ¡°Make sure to eat up! They are good for your growth and health.¡± His voice sounded like he was smiling, but Hendrick didn¡¯t look up to prove this assumption. ¡°Big bro like berry! Lea like berry too!¡± Lea was around 3 years old. She stuttered around a bit if she attempted to construct more complicated sentences. At least that was what he had observed with the limited time he had spent with her so far. She wasn¡¯t of any importance to his plan. The grip around his fork tightened. ¡°Yes, good job Lea. I looove strawberries!¡± Hendrick said with a hollow, cheerful voice. There was no use in pleading or refusing, playing along was the only option given. After all the strawberries on his plate had been somehow decimated while almost vomiting at each bite he had taken, Hendrick got up and quickly crossed to the other end of the room. He fetched his school-bag from the wooden tiled floor, swung it onto his back. He then turned towards the front door located close to the kitchen and got ready to leave. Sadly, one thing was left to be done before he would be allowed to leave the house. Still facing the floor, he could hear his mother¡¯s footsteps limping closer. He saw her slippers and legs, but didn¡¯t look up. Some of her bare feet, which both had a deep round hole inside of them, were clearly visible. The pink fabric of her slippers could be seen at the bottom of the holes, pieces of splintered off bone exposed next to some blood covered parts of pale-white flesh. Skin belched out of the wound¡¯s sides like a freshly exploded piece of cake. Hendrick¡¯s mother put her arms around him, holding him close in an affectionate, cold embrace. Hendrick returned the embrace. Seconds felt like ages. She let go. And he left as fast as possible. --- 2 - Berserker Hendrick Hendrick closed the door behind him and found himself in the little garden in front of his home. The taste of fresh air filled him with relief, the sun shining high up in the skies gently tickling on his face with its warming rays. A few white flowers were planted neatly arranged next to the entrance, but besides that there wasn¡¯t much notable besides grass. The house was located at the edge of the village, so there wasn¡¯t much traffic on the streets or people walking around. He took a deep breath, then walked off the family property and onto the side-walk. The pavement under his feet emitted a slight aura of certainty. Around 10 minutes without anything to take care of. Time to think and, finally, some breathing room for his soul. There was no need to take too much care about the surroundings, since he had memorized the exact path with all the details a long time ago. So which options did he have? All the things he had tried so far didn¡¯t quite work out. He did dive even further down the rabbit hole, but the light at the end of the tunnel was, even if very close, still not to be seen. Not even a slight change, a gust of an opportunity, something, anything. If one more strawberry would find the way into his throat, he would snap. Not like it would change a thing, but it would happen. He needed to reevaluate all of his plans, figure out the best solution, and then start one last attempt to get through the final obstacle blocking off his freedom. Not a single cloud was visible in the ocean-blue, clear sky which spread itself like the painting of a middle-aged woman across the horizon. As usual, a gentle breeze hummed through the woods just a couple of meters away from the path, tickling the branches¡¯ leaves in waving rhythm. A few cars drove by with steaming clouds and mechanical appearance, which reminded him of a familiar place. He felt the muscles in his right hand tighten up, forced himself to relax. There is still enough time remaining until the clock hits 12. Until then, I need to be ready, he thought while crossing the road without even checking the colour of the traffic light once. I can¡¯t give up. If I will, there will be nothing else I can do besides accepting my fate. ¡°God damn it,¡± he muttered, but Hendrick¡¯s high pitched voice made the swear words he used sound pathetic. How could anyone take him serious like this? His tiny legs carried him forward as the school campus moved closer and closer. ¡°Maybe I can try to open the door from further away...¡± Hendrick pondered with one hand on his chin as if he wanted to scratch a beard that wasn¡¯t there. ¡°No, I already tried something similar. That wouldn¡¯t work.¡± His thoughts spun like a carousel at a fair. Then, he got thrown out of the carousel as a shape around his size tackled him and ruffled his hair. ¡°Hey, Hen! How¡¯s it going?¡± a cherish voice ¨C which was a little too close to his ear for comfort ¨C inquired. A slim figure, a boy around his age, stood close to him with a wide grin from cheek to cheek. Everything about the person¡¯s appearance was shining brightly. It was Jim. ¡°Hey Jim, what¡¯s up?¡± Hendrick asked with a narrow smile. ¡°Guess what?¡± Jim asked rather jumping than walking as his hands gestured around without much observable concept. He had a certain glow in his hazel eyes, as if something had awoken a deep passion inside of him. ¡°Huh? What happened?¡± Hendrick asked rather calmly compared to the bundle of energy next to him. ¡°Jack got the rulebook for the new ¡®Dungeons and Dwagons¡¯ edition for his birthday. He said if we give him some time to prepare, we can all come over and play it with him.¡± ¡°Really? Awesome, dude. I¡¯m in... but I get to be the berserker,¡± he said without a hint of doubt. ¡°Ah, come on¡­¡± Jim returned. ¡°The berserker is the coolest one.¡± ¡°We can just both play a berserker, right?¡± ¡°Nah dude, RPG rule number one... that¡¯s lame. If you are going to be the berserker, then I just play something waaay cooler than you,¡± Jim said. ¡°But I won¡¯t tell you now, Bleh! Ah and by the way¡­¡± He leaned a little closer, whispered, ¡°I will also beat your ass with it.¡± ¡°Oh yeah?¡± Hendrick chuckled. ¡°Let¡¯s see that once the time comes.¡± It was always funny how cheerful Jim could be. If Hendrick was completely honest, he had to admit Jim was rather predictable as a person and a little over the top from time to time, but also truthful, really straightforward and logical under certain circumstances. Suddenly, he got an idea. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Hey, you always seem so keen on fighting everyone. What if I wouldn¡¯t wanna fight you?¡± ¡°Because I would be way stronger than you? Hmmm¡­¡± He scratched his brown, messy hair, then added, ¡°That would be like¡­ super boring. You know that, right?¡± ¡°Yea, I know. But in theory. How would I stop you from beating my ass?¡± Hendrick asked, a light chuckle in his tone. ¡°Well, perhaps by dropping your weapon on purpose. That would be so lame, I wouldn¡¯t want to keep fighting if you pulled something like that.¡± ¡°Yea, you might be right.¡± Hendrick said. He then thought fast, added, ¡°Also, who said Jack gets to lead the campaign? I¡¯m sure I would be good at leading too.¡± Jim tilted his head lightly. ¡°Yea, but Jack owns the game and knows the rules. Also, he is smarter than us, so it probably wouldn¡¯t work out very well.¡± ¡°Hm, yea,¡± Hendrick said. ¡°He would just find out things way too fast and it would create problems.¡± ¡°Pretty sure, yes. Let¡¯s just ask him about it at school. I¡¯m sure he already has some crazy stuff prepared.¡± ¡°Yea. Like always.¡± Hendrick and Jim followed the tarred path up the hill the school was built upon. A tall building surrounded by a couple of old oak and birch-trees spread across the outdoor area. Multiple floors of monotone looking concrete reached higher than the treetops. In front of the main entrance was the school-yard, which reached around about half of the building... there even was a small playground for the younger children. They entered the building¡¯s front-door and made their way down the main hall, then strolled through the halls which led to their classroom. Jim spent most of the time rambling about which Science-Fiction movie was the best while Hendrick kept thinking about his plan. Now he finally had all the pieces he needed. --- Jim Jim had almost fallen asleep on his desk as he felt a finger poke his side. His body jerked upwards like a doll on strings before he regained his posture and acted ¨C at least he attempted to act ¨C like nothing had happened. He shot a quick, sleepy glance across the desk at Jack, narrow eyes flashing at the troublemaker. His death glare got interrupted by a smoky male voice originating from the front of the room: ¡°Would you please give us the answer to the equation on the board, Jim?¡± the grey-haired maths teacher asked. Some snuffed chuckling was audible from different corners of the room. ¡°Yea uh¡­¡± Jim placed his left index finger close to his rather bulky nose, tapped with his foot under the desk. ¡°It¡¯s uh¡­ uhm...¡± ¡°It¡¯s 21,¡± a female voice stated. ¡°Good job, Anna! Jim, maybe you should spend less time at night playing video games and more time studying,¡± the old man said while pointing his walking aid in his direction. ¡°But studying is boooring,¡± Jim returned as an epic comeback. Laughter echoed through the classroom for a brief moment before the teacher silenced the class with another wave of his walking aid. He then sighed and continued explaining things about X and Y, almost as if the conversation earlier didn¡¯t even happen. Jim spared a look over to Anna, who poked her tongue out at him, a cheerful expression on her amber coloured face. He responded with a wink and a middle finger. School was probably the most cruel thing you could do to an 11-year-old. At least Jim had his friends with him, which made the whole process a little bit more bearable. He couldn¡¯t wait until after school, when he would beat them in fighting games and play hide and seek with them. The clock moved slower than the loading screens he saw on his computer every day. If there only would be anything he could spend his time with while listening to this old man¡¯s muttering about equations. Even the slightest dose of entertainment would be a real lifesaver. He craved dopamine. Jim¡¯s craving got silenced by a piece of paper which got slid onto his side of the desk by a dark-skinned hand. It showed a rather vague drawing of a stick-man holding a sword way too tall for its body. The stick figure had a big smile on its face while impaling another stick creature with the tip of its oversized blade. A lot of red circles had been drawn over the impaled figure in a rather coarse way. ¡°This is my ¡®Dungeons and Dwagons¡¯ character fighting evil guys!¡± the afro wearing male next to Jim announced in a rather quiet voice. ¡°I call him Guts, the swordsman.¡± A quiet laugh escaped Jim¡¯s lips. ¡°That¡¯s the edgiest shit I¡¯ve ever seen in my entire life... I kinda like it. Hmmm... but,¡± Jim pointed at the piece of paper, ¡°what¡¯s all of that red stuff?¡± ¡°It¡¯s the blood and guts of his enemies, of course! Isn¡¯t that obvious? He never gives up, and he always comes out on top whatever happens to him.¡± ¡°Yea¡­ right.¡± Jim couldn¡¯t help it but smile. Jack always managed to cheer him up if he was bored. He also was the second best ¡®Swash Bros¡¯ player in their friend group. Jim held the number one title of course, and he bragged about it frequently. A loud ringing was audible. Jim leaped off his chair bare milliseconds after the clock had rung. Break time, finally! he thought. He loaded his imaginary weapons, started finger-gunning into Jack¡¯s direction. Jack ¨C who appeared to be prepared for the attack ¨C barely managed to dodge all of his imaginary attacks as he leaned backwards, the mind bullets missing his face by mere inches as they zipped over him. A maniacal laughter was audible as Jack paced out of the classroom ¨C almost running into a first grader who was standing in front of the door while doing so ¨C before disappearing into the hallway. ¡°You will never catch me, scum!¡± his distant voice echoed through the halls. Jim followed Jack out of the classroom, fingers held up high, ready to roll. ¡°You can run but you can¡¯t hi-¡± He looked to the left, then the right. ¡°Wait¡­ where did he go?¡± He then proceeded to sprint along the hallway in search of his enemy. --- 3 - The Test Anna Anna sighed as she saw Jim and Jack running out of the classroom like the two full-fledged idiots they were. It was almost kind of cute... almost. She used her right hand to readjust her clothing, made sure her shoulder long blonde ponytail was still in shape. It was a reflex, something she did out of habit. If she didn¡¯t do it for too long, it almost felt like she could hear someone criticizing her. The other children had started preparing for break, were now fetching their lunches out of their school-bags, observing what their parents had made for them. The air inside of the room started to clear up a little ¨C probably because of less fifth-graders per m2. ¡°Why did we befriend them again?¡± she asked, looked at Hendrick who was currently staring into blank space. ¡°It really feels like taking care of toddlers sometimes.¡± ¡°Huh? Oh yea¡­ probably because they share all of our interests. Also, someone needs to make sure they won¡¯t kill themselves by accident, right?¡± Hendrick pulled his lunch box out of his backpack, sighed after he opened it. ¡°Did I ever mention that I hate strawberries?¡± he said with narrowed eyes. Wait, what did he just say? she thought. ¡°You... don¡¯t like strawberries?¡± Anna raised a brow. ¡°Alright, who are you and what did you do to Hendrick?¡± she added in a set up serious voice. ¡°Ha Ha, very funny Ann,¡± Hendrick returned with ironic pacing. ¡°I just ate too many of them lately, that¡¯s all.¡± It was odd for Hendrick to not go into raptures about his strawberries for once. He usually exterminated every single one within 100 meters range as soon as he spotted them. ¡°Imagine you would have to eat one food for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?¡± Hendrick asked. Anna tapped her chin. She liked a lot of food, but settle for one? ¡°That really sounds terrible, but I think I would pick ice cream. I could change the flavour every day this way.¡± ¡°Nah, not allowed. One flavour only.¡± ¡°Well, definitely not strawberry then.¡± They both chuckled, then picked up their stuff and left the classroom. Around 200 meters of boring hallway later, they left through the side exit. The hot summer sun glared down upon them, not a single cloud visible in the broad sky. --- Jack The four of them were sitting in the sandpit, protected from the sun by the shadows of the tall birch trees nearby, as a light breeze brushed the leaves around. Jack had spent the last 15 minutes explaining ¡®Dungeons and Dwagons¡¯ combat to the rest of the group. His eyes were sunken and close to falling shut. Maybe he shouldn¡¯t have spent the last night staying awake and inhaling the entire book, but he hadn¡¯t been able to stop himself. It was like a whole new world had opened up in front of his imagination, and he could already see what it would be like to dive into it with his friends. ¡°So you can move whenever and wherever you want, but you only have your walking speed. For example: you can move for half the duration, use your action, and then move again,¡± he said while drawing stuff on the dry sand with a stick he found, used his other hand to gesture around. He pointed his stick weapon at Anna, who had raised her hand. ¡°Question?¡± Anna was the only one not sitting in the sand. She was squatting, probably to keep her clothes clean. Jack wasn¡¯t sure if she would care about if they would get dirty, but he knew her parents would. ¡°Uh¡­ so can I move while performing an action?¡± ¡°You can? You can! I at least think that¡­¡± Jack scratched himself on his forehead with the back end of his stick. ¡°I¡¯m not sure. Maybe I fell asleep on that page... I''ll reread it as soon as I get home.¡± His glance swept over to Hendrick, who was staring into the void¡­ again. ¡°Hey Hen, are you even listening? I promise to not warn you before you get jumped on by a horde of hungry goblins!¡± Hendrick¡¯s reaction was around 2 seconds delayed. He raised his chin an inch, then responded, ¡°Huh? Oh sorry, I was thinking about stuff.¡± He then picked up a stick and started drawing as well. ¡°What mere stuff would be more important than our glorious conquest?¡± Jack proclaimed proudly. ¡°Your mom.¡± Hendrick¡¯s mimic lightened. ¡°Very funny... shut up.¡± Jack pouted as Jim started exploding in laughter. Anna facepalmed quietly. ¡°A-Anyway.¡± He fixed his buttoned shirt while recovering from the groundbreaking insult he had just received. ¡°I will start working on our first campaign today. It would be nice if you would send me pictures of your characters as well as a brief explanation of how they act, what they do and so on. This will be our biggest adventure so far, I promise.¡± He smirked, then added while pushing his glasses up his nose with one finger, ¡°Besides Hendrick¡¯s mom of course.¡± Hendrick punched Jack¡¯s shoulder lightly, then started smirking as well, ¡°Goo-¡± Jim¡¯s uncontrollable laughter ¨C which was now even louder than before ¨C drowned out Hendrick¡¯s voice with ease. After Jim had calmed down, he looked at the things Hendrick had drawn into the sand with his stick. ¡°What even is that supposed to mean, Hen?¡± So far, Jim had been the only one who had spent attention on Hendrick¡¯s doodles. Jack saw two separate, rather simple drawings, but before he could get a closer look at what they showed, Hendrick had already wiped them away. ¡°Just random stuff, I suppose.¡± The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. ¡°Didn¡¯t know you like butterflies that much. You should play one in our campaign,¡± Jim said, his face painted in a glint of red from holding back more laughter. ¡°Very funny,¡± Hendrick returned. A detail caught Jack¡¯s attention. Hendrick appeared to be holding the stick with his right hand, which was weird since he was certain that he was left-handed. Jack frowned. The school bell rung and children all over begun to plot slowly towards the entrance like an annoyed swarm of bees. The group of four turned their heads simultaneously, then sighed in unison. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s time for more boredom for now,¡± Jack said while patting some sand off his shorts. ¡°I¡¯ll be looking forward to seeing your character sheets.¡± --- Anna The quiet, consistent squeaking of the ceiling fan. Pens dancing over paper. Muffled sighs, clicking ballpoints, paper being scrupled up. Even though the fan was there, the air seemed to stand still, much like the time, which was creeping forward at a snail¡¯s pace. Anna leaned back against the oak chair which was probably older than her. This was fifth-grader hell. Two hours of English grammar... great. The taste of her chewing gum had turned from strawberry to chemistry around 20 minutes ago. She mechanically turned her head to the side, a careful glance. Hendrick¡¯s sheet was almost empty. He had, in fact, flipped it around and was sketching something close to a football coach¡¯s game plan on it. Fast lines taken without any care were spread across the paper in hectic fashion. He turned his head towards the row of tall closets on one side of the classroom, then back to the paper. An old, clammy voice got raised: ¡°Anna, would you please mind your own test? English grammar is nothing you can learn by copying it. You need to practice it.¡± ¡°Yes, miss Chester.¡± Anna replied. ¡°If I catch you cheating one more time, I will need to let you fail the test. Your parents wouldn¡¯t be happy about that, would they?¡± ¡°No, miss Chester.¡± Something about Hendrick¡¯s behaviour was weird today. Maybe something at home? An argument with his parents, perhaps? Nearly impossible, since they always treated him like a kindergartener. They were all about: ¡®let¡¯s make your life as easy as possible with no challenges. Yea, that won¡¯t backfire at all¡¯. She was certain he must be annoyed by them, but that alone wouldn¡¯t bother him enough to not participate in the test at all. Hendrick had always tried to at least do his best at school. But what was bothering him this much then? Anna shook her head, decided to just finish her test and ask Hen about it later. She needed to at least score a B- so no one would shout at her at home. She brought back her focus to filling the gaps on the paper. Perhaps, if she somehow managed to get an A, she would be told that she did something good for once. Yea¡­ like that would ever happen, she thought. And if all of that wouldn¡¯t work, she could still try to win the archery tournament, which was coming up soon. She had trained hard to improve her aim. Perhaps that would make her parents proud? She could most certainly try. Like all the times before. --- Jack Jack¡¯s mind swept across the ideas and plans he had made for the next couple of weeks. He mentally dotted down all the tabletop stuff, imagined it inside of his head and put it at different places so he could remember it faster later on. He looked at the clock once again. Ten minutes till 12. If only school went by faster, he thought. Jack had already finished the test 5 minutes ago. Sometimes he forgot that others actually had to learn for school, since it had never been one of his problems in the past. School time was more or less just sitting around and waiting until it was over. While others struggled, he simply passed every test without much effort, which lead to him spending most of the time at school screwing around with Jim or doodling random things on exercises. The teachers didn¡¯t really care what he did as long as he wouldn''t bother the other kids, which encouraged his habit of writing or sketching while he was forced to stay inside of this hell-hole even more. Well, at least he was able to see his friends. Without them, it would be a lot worse. He took a glance to the side. It was unlikely anyone would expect him to copy anything from Jim anyways. His theory was confirmed. The person sharing his bench was currently drawing dragons¡­ if you could even call it that. He was around 45% sure. It seemed like Jim had given up after 2 questions and had decided drawing would be a better way of spending his time. Well, it¡¯s not like his parents would care about his grades anyway, he thought. Jim was a good friend. He could be kind of a dumbass sometimes, but that was actually one of the things Jack liked the most about him. He had a carefree, creative mind, which more or less made up for his lack of drawing talent and non-existing ability to tie his shoes himself. An old voice broke the silence which had grasped the room for the last 15 minutes, ¡°3¡­ 2¡­ 1¡­ ze-ro.¡° The sound of squeaking wheels against wooden flooring, then high heels clacking across the room. ¡°Alright kids, put your pens away! Whoever writes now will get a big fat F. Please hand your papers to the right so I can collect them. Also, don¡¯t forget to write down the date and your name.¡± ¡°Ah fuck,¡± Jim whispered. ¡°March second,¡± Jack returned. ¡°Ah, thanks man.¡± The teacher collected the tests and shuffled them into a stack. Jack had noticed Hendrick keeping his one, folding it with fast hands before putting it inside of his pocket. It was an odd sight, to say at least. Grammar wasn¡¯t Hendrick¡¯s strength, that was for sure, but it wasn¡¯t bad enough to provoke this kind of reaction. Jack decided to ask him about it later. After the teacher had put the tests inside of her old leather bag, the teaching continued. The old woman strode in a ticked off manner from the left side of the school board to the right while scrambling exercises on it with a white piece of chalk. Her old, wrinkly fingers created more uncomfortable sounds than the chalk. Jack¡¯s view glided over to Jim¡¯s bored face, which he preferred over beholding the old witch¡¯s rear by a lot. The bored fellow¡¯s left hand saved his chin from smacking into the school bench in front of him, his elbow being the pillar of his balance against the worn off wood. Jack¡¯s curiosity had won. The oddities had piled up enough for him to ask a question: ¡°Jim, did you notice something¡­ weird about Hendrick today? You walk with him to school every day, right? Did anything suspicious happen there?¡± ¡°He wanted to steal my berserker privilege, but besides that, nothing noticeable.¡± ¡°I meant something like¡­ I don¡¯t know¡­ him not talking at all during break. Or him folding his test and putting it away without the teacher noticing.¡± ¡°Maybe he wanted to keep the drawings he put on its back.¡± ¡°He did what? But¡­ you never look at minor details like that.¡± Jack didn¡¯t know if he was supposed to be surprised or disappointed. ¡°I would never miss someone creating a piece of art.¡± Jim¡¯s voice sounded proud and nostalgic. ¡°Yea, right¡­¡± Jack decided to never ask Jim about serious matters again. The clock kept ticking forward, almost reaching its long awaited positioning with both hands pointing upwards. 5 minutes till salvation, he thought. The words of the chalk witch had already blurred into a weary mess inside of Jack¡¯s head. She almost sounded like a crow, hitting her beak against the chalkboard to get a shiny rock out of it. Jack¡¯s mind shifted to the campaign he was planning. He got the idea for a giant crow boss, threatening the party with grammar lessons while throwing chalk at them. He stuck to this idea for now, as it was more comforting than his current reality. --- 4 - Twelve Hendrick Hendrick¡¯s mind kept spinning like the ceiling-fan above his head. He had 5 more minutes to sort his thoughts, strategies and ideas, then it was time to roll. His plan rested folded inside of his pocket, waiting to be turned into reality. The clock appeared to be sprinting. Time was mocking him. Nervous taps got placed on the desk in front of him, as his fingertips created a steady pattern. Even though he knew what was coming, he was still nervous. I think I finally got what I have been missing, he told himself. I just need one good run, and then all of this is going to be over and I can finally rest. 3 minutes remaining. The old teacher started to slowly finish her talk, yet she didn¡¯t slow down at all. It was a wonder itself that she still had a working voice after all the talking she had done in the last two hours. Most of the children had already started packing their stuff, were now scrambling and sorting their pencils and rulers off their desks and into their backpacks. ¡°¡­and remember to read the pages 32 ¨C 34 inside of your text book during next time, since the next lesson is going to be essential for understanding all the following ones, and you can bet that all of this stuff will be part of the final exam, because¡­¡± The words poured out of her parched mouth like a waterfall: relentless and never-ending. And then time ran out. The clock started ringing, both clock hands pointing at twelve as reality started glitching. A mechanical screeching was audible as the teacher¡¯s face distorted momentarily before being replaced by something entirely different. Time was frozen, and the ¡®teacher¡¯ was the only creature besides Hendrick left moving. The old, wrinkly face of the teacher had been replaced by a roundish, white mask carrying an inhumanly wide smile which almost reached from one side of the mask to the other. Lifeless teeth stared at Hendrick in a pitying manner. He felt a familiar feeling build up inside of him as he stared back, deep down into the white pit of emotionless void. A mechanical voice seeming to originate from the face echoed inside of Hendrick¡¯s head: ¡°¡®Sinner¡¯s Game¡¯ will now begin. Clear all stages to win. Good luck.¡± Hendrick had prepared himself as much as possible. His plan had to work. The mechanical screeching inside of his eardrums didn¡¯t bother him at all. He was focused and ready. Whatever horrors laid ahead of him, whatever obstacles would be placed inside of his way, there was no way he could be stopped. Hendrick realized he had started scratching the nail of his thumb against his middle finger. The classroom started glitching more heavily around Hendrick, changing its shape and appearance before enveloping him in a storm of blue particles. He then found himself flying through a current of blue matter, getting launched through reality towards his destiny. He closed his eyes. Everything turned black. --- Jim As Jim¡¯s consciousness returned, he heard muffled voices nearby. It felt like he had cotton inside of his ears and his head hurt like hell. He had a hard time pointing out what the voices said, but he soon realized that they sounded familiar. As sounds got clearer and his head stopped spinning, he opened his eyes. His field of vision was greeted by his friends accompanied by a lot of bright colours. He sat up, noticed that the ground beneath him consisted of plastic squares which felt smooth and hard at the same time. The floor was plastered with them, each of them around one square-meter in size. ¡°Oh, so you¡¯re finally awake?¡± Jack asked with a wide grin on his face. Jim scanned to the left, then the right. There were high walls not too far away. So high, in fact, that they reached upwards to what seemed to be infinity. They consisted of children¡¯s toys, only in gigantic scale. Wooden blocks, Pencils, balls, teddy-bears, these weird creepy wind up boxes no one likes, and so on. All of them somehow fit inside of a roughly vertical complex of walls, which created a labyrinth of giant proportion. It almost seemed like someone had shrunken them down. The toys covered the landscape as well, spread across the area as if a giant infant had played with, then forgotten about them. The floor was flat, no hills or even slopes anywhere as far as the eye could see. Hell, the place even smelled like old comics and plush. ¡°Where the fuck are we?¡± ¡°Well,¡± Hendrick said, ¡°It looks like we finally get our chance of living through a real-life adventure together.¡± Jim blinked twice, then his eyes widened. ¡°No fucking way.¡± Hendrick stepped forward, offered Jim a hand up. He took the offer. ¡°We need to get moving now,¡± Hendrick said. ¡°We have around one hour until the red phase starts. Until then, we need to find a hiding spot.¡± This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. The sky ¨C or at least the part of it which was not blocked by walls restricting his view ¨C was plain white. Even though there was no sun up there, the entire area was very bright. Jim blinked a few times in a row, pinched himself just to be sure. His gaze focused on his friends, which were by far the least bright shapes in this place. Hendrick scrambled around inside of his pocket, pulled out a piece of paper and unfolded it. He held it up, looked at it. Jim could now see what was on the back of the paper: English grammar questions. ¡°Hiding spot? Hiding from what?¡± Jim asked. ¡°The Doll-Maker.¡± ¡°The... what?¡± Jim didn¡¯t quite get what Hendrick was talking about, but Jack and Anna seemed to agree with him, so he played along with it. ¡°We need to move in¡­¡± Hendrick looked down at the paper, then back up and pointed between two of the massive walls not too far away from them, ¡°...this direction.¡± Jim¡¯s head almost felt like spinning again. This place was the definition of sensory overload. What his friends said made no sense at all, and it appeared that the sky had been deleted, which caused him minor distress. But it also seemed like his lifelong dream was turning to a reality. ¡°Does that mean?¡± he asked. ¡°Yea.¡± Hendrick folded his school exam and put it back into his pocket, then started walking. ¡°It¡¯s what you are thinking. Like I already said, it¡¯s our chance to live through a real adventure together.¡± ¡°Okay guys, this will be like¡­ a real-life video-game of some sort,¡± Jack said as he followed Hendrick. ¡°Let¡¯s show whoever we need to face who¡¯s boss around here.¡± Anna ¨C who looked lightly distressed ¨C followed Hendrick as well, said, ¡°Alright, but please let¡¯s hurry a bit... This place is starting to hurt my eyes.¡± Jim¡¯s eyes lit up. He couldn¡¯t help it but smile. And he followed his friends. --- A few hours later Anna Anna¡¯s eyes dashed from item to item, trying to choose a good hiding spot. The out of tune notes creeping up her neck grew in volume as she knew her time was running out. Then, she spotted something to her left around 10 meters away: a ball-pit embedded inside of the floor close to one of the endless towering walls of playthings. Hundreds, if not thousands of plastic balls created an ocean of colours. Anna manifested her remaining energy, dragged herself to the pit and stumbled into the save heaven of cheerfully colourful spheres. The mechanical clawing inched closer. Anna dug herself deeper and deeper, used her hands as shovels as she was soon fully covered. It went dark around her. Finally, some pleasing darkness for her eyes. The cheerful colours showered in red light had started to freak her out. She stopped moving and held her breath as the music increased in volume once again. Eyes closed, she hoped for the creature to just pass by, to leave her alone. If she wouldn¡¯t be able to find her way back home, she was going to stay inside of this pit forever. Safe from all the dangers of the colourful outside world above, silently waiting until the hands of faith put her to rest. Luckily, Anna didn¡¯t have to give up right now. After a few minutes the sounds had vanished, and it was now completely silent. She pondered: If it is really gone, I need to take the opportunity and move. If I¡¯m lucky, I can follow the path of destruction back to where we originally hid. Maybe I will be able to find the others from there. After a few minutes of hesitation, Anna emerged from the pit. She felt like she had just been reborn, a butterfly breaking out of its cocoon. She felt the plastic floor beneath her feet, no longer suspended in the semi-solid ocean of plastic balls. She looked to the front and the back of the corridor, didn¡¯t spot anything Doll-Maker-like. She stretched out her arms towards the heavens, opened her palms in relief. Sadly, she had forgotten to gaze towards the heavens. A stinging pain shot through her hands as she felt two needles pierce through her palms and impaling them. They hit the ground close to Anna, the reflection of the thin strings attached to them now painted in crimson. Then, the needles got pulled back upwards. Barbs, which were attached to them, hooked themselves inside of the back of Anna¡¯s hands, pulled her upwards suspending her a couple of meters above the ground. Tears of pain had formed in Anna¡¯s eyes, made it harder for her to see what was unfolding in front of her. She heard the noise of a quiet melody close by, slowed down and now more clear. It wasn¡¯t out of tune anymore, seemed more calm as something cold wiped the tears out of her eyes. And then, the Doll-Maker revealed itself. A white, round mask hovered close to her face, its only feature being a lifeless, wide grin. Pale, symmetrical teeth greeted her with an unmoving smile. The source of music was still behind her, so Anna assumed this was where the main part of the creature¡¯s body was. Her back was pressed against something sticky and tenacious, limiting even more of her movement. From the dark mass of black goo ¨C which was the only thing visible behind the mask that could be interpreted as a head ¨C a long, gory red neck expanded sideways, so long its origin was hidden out of Anna¡¯s sight. The neck resembled something close to an accordion¡¯s middle piece. It was made out of reddened skin, almost as if all the parts inside of it had been stretched and twisted far too many times. Before Anna could let out a scream, she was silenced by a cold, gooey hand which had most likely been what had wiped away her tears earlier ¨C tears of which there were now a lot more of. She squirmed and struggled to break free, but her attempts of movement were met by her hands being pulled on by the strings attached to the needles impaling her flesh. Hellish pain led to muffled, silenced screams. Salty tears dropped onto the plastic flooring below. In the distance, a happy, smiling teddy-bear sat silently leaned against a blue toy car. Anna spotted multiple rows of hands moving into her field of vision from behind her, each of them holding a needle attached to a string. Their grips were tight, holding the needles with brute force. All of them jerked in place for a moment, as if they hesitated. After a moment of silence, the hands tightened their muscles. The music stopped playing. The Doll-Maker started preparing his next gift. ----- Prologue End ----- 5 - Starless Sky Officer Jeff There wasn¡¯t a single cloud in the night-sky. The stars shone like an ocean of lights in the heavens. The siren of a police car echoed through the darkness as blue and red lights flooded the otherwise gloom village streets. Jeff saw a shadow sprint through the night, move into the side street between two rather old buildings. He stepped on the gas, did a sharp turn to the right as the police car barely fit in between the towering walls of concrete. He saw the shadow attempt to escape, drove faster as he caught up with approaching speed. The next turn was right ahead, but the car wouldn¡¯t fit in there. If he was hesitant now, that bastard would get away with what he had done. He couldn¡¯t let him get away with this. He just couldn¡¯t. Jeff felt his hands clutch the steering wheel tight as he drove forward, his gaze locked on the shadow, then violently stepped on the brakes in the last moment possible. The car came to an abrupt stop right after it hit the person with decreased speed. The shadow flew around three meters through the air before hitting a concrete wall. Jeff pressed a button on his walkie-talkie, got out of the car with his gun clutched tight in both hands. He moved closer to the shadow, which was already attempting to get up. The lights of the police car lifted the shroud of anonymity off the shadow, revealed it to be human. As the person saw the weapon, he stopped moving. Jeff stared into the dark, sunken eyes of the male in front of him. The man was covered in blood not his own, his eyes gleaming in ecstasy as a wide grin formed on his face. Jeff was now sure he had caught the right one. ¡°Mister Hoffner,¡± he said as more police cars were audible approaching in the distance. ¡°You are under arrest.¡± --- 3 years later: Present Jack Jack was laying on his back, hands behind his head to make up for his lack of pillow. He was staring up towards the reddened horizon, his mind circling about past events. He had moved on top of the massive climbing frame about one hour ago, couldn¡¯t rest. The roof was accessible through a ladder on the highest floor of the building ¨C a room where Hendrick and Jim were currently sleeping in. The flat roof was surrounded by a roughly one meter high fence out of wooden slats. Hendrick had assured them that they would be safe here, that the beast wouldn¡¯t find them here, yet he didn¡¯t feel safe. How could they sleep even though Anna was still gone? And why did this adventure not feel like he had always imagined it? The starless sky towered high above his head like a colossal red curtain keeping reality shut out. Now as he thought about it, it looked a little like the sky-box of a video game ¨C a placeholder to hide nothing was beyond it. It should encourage his creativity, make him wonder what laid beyond, but it just felt empty for some reason. The sound of someone climbing up the ladder interrupted Jack¡¯s pondering. It was Hendrick. He made his way to Jack, laid down next to him and looked up into the sky as if in search for stars. ¡°I expected to find you here,¡± he said. Jack responded, voice rather quiet, ¡°How come? I thought you were asleep already. I don¡¯t get how you can just rest after¡­ what happened. We don¡¯t even know where she is¡­¡± ¡°Back in fourth grade,¡± Hendrick said with his gaze fixed on the horizon, ¡°we met up every weekend for sleep-overs, you remember?¡± Hendrick turned towards Jack, his right palm keeping his head off the ground. ¡°Yea, why?¡± Jack asked, his head lightly tilt to the side as his eyes met Hendrick¡¯s. There was the usual light blue which complimented his rather pale face, yet something in his eyes seemed to be distant. It was as if they had lost some of their magic. ¡°We changed the place where we stayed the night every weekend. Every house had its own highlights¡­ Anna¡¯s place had the pool. We swam there every time, fooled around and pushed each other into the water. Her parents told us to stop so many times but we didn¡¯t really care.¡± Jack returned to facing the sky, thought: What the heck is he talking about? He acts like it¡¯s all just fun and games, but his eyes state otherwise. This beast had looked terrifying. How can he be so relaxed about it? ¡°Jim had the video game consoles,¡± Hendrick continued. ¡°We played little tournaments all night long. We ate way too much frozen pizza... Jim even gained a few kilos from that.¡± Hendrick chuckled for a moment, and Jack couldn¡¯t help it but lighten his expression a little. ¡°My house had the big yard on the back for playing football and stuff. We ran around until we fell into our beds in exhaustion. And we always acted like we were our favourite characters, going on big adventures and stuff.¡± Jack turned to face Hendrick again, set up a stern voice, ¡°Listen, Hendrick. It¡¯s not the right time for stories like that ri-¡± ¡°And lastly, your house. Sleepovers there were always the best! We played tabletop games inside of your tree-house, told each other horror stories, and spend the night there. And you know who was never able to sleep and always laid on top of the roof near the branches?¡± Hendrick pointed at Jack, ¡°That¡¯s how I knew you were up here.¡± ¡°Listen, Jack. I know you worry about her, and I also know it was my fault since I sneezed as we were hiding. That was dumb and I¡¯m sorry for that, but Anna will be fine. The Doll-Maker never attacks its victims until a few days after it has brought them to its cave.¡± Jack softened up a bit, said, ¡°We go in there tomorrow as soon as the sky is white again¡­ and we will get her out of there immediately, promise?¡± ¡°I promise.¡± Hendrick smiled. ¡°And after we rescued her, we can go on to the second stage together. This is going to be awesome, believe me. Also, you know Anna well enough. She doesn¡¯t let things get to her easily, and maybe she already hid somewhere or tricked that thing to lead her to its cave.¡± Jack sat up, yawned. ¡°I see.¡± He sighed, had to readjust his buttoned shirt. Hendrick had explained the core rules earlier, yet Jack had to admit he wasn¡¯t really able to understand much besides the key concept. Clear the stages with any remaining team members, you win; don¡¯t clear all the stages, you lose. Oh, and there also appeared to be eldritch horror beings roaming around a fucking oversized dump filled with giant playthings towering till the reddened horizon, neat. ¡°We need to beat all three stages, then we win. All of our team members who didn¡¯t make it get revived after we won the game. Also, there is no real pain, you remember?¡± Hendrick had gotten up, was now leaning against the wooden slats of the fence. ¡°Just view it like a real-life pen and paper. It will be sick.¡± How did Hendrick know all these things about this place? Maybe he already had been here before? It didn¡¯t make sense to Jack, but he trusted Hen, and Hen appeared to know what he was doing. There also were some facts Hendrick wasn¡¯t allowed to share, which he had pointed out to the group earlier, so Jack figured there might be a good explanation for the secrecy with which his friend acted. ¡°Hm, yea¡­¡± Jack said. Hendrick turned around, looked down at Jack with a worried expression. ¡°Anna isn¡¯t the only reason you are up here, am I right?¡± You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Come on, dude.¡± ¡°It¡¯s just¡­ so illogical.¡± Jack got up, walked over to Hendrick and leaned against the fence with his back. ¡°Go ahead. You know I don¡¯t mind you info-dumping¡­ or thought-dumping¡­ whatever, you know what I mean.¡± ¡°Well, you know¡­¡± Jack pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. ¡°I have always dreamed of going on an adventure like this. I have made up stories in my head, played tons and tons of video games, pretended to be characters from fiction, and so on. I have enjoyed this kind of stuff my whole life, looked up to the people in these stories and dreamed of living an adventure like they do. And I daily let my thoughts wander at school and play scenarios in my head, telling myself I would give anything I had for an experience like this one, to find out what it would be like¡­¡± Jack looked up once again. He still couldn¡¯t see nor feel what was beyond the horizon. ¡°And now it just doesn¡¯t feel right?¡± Hendrick asked. Jack nodded, pointed upwards. ¡°The sky doesn¡¯t even have stars. Everything seems to be a little off here, almost fake. It¡¯s like nothing of this is real, not even pretending to be real. And I somehow can¡¯t get myself to believe it is. It just is too far from reality for that.¡± ¡°Does it really matter all that much if it is real?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Jack took a deep breath, tasted plastic and wood. ¡°If it¡¯s not real, then why would it matter?¡± ¡°You serious?¡± Hendrick asked. ¡°Are the video games you play real? Are the stories you read? Of course not, but you enjoy them anyways. It¡¯s the same around here. Just treat it like a game, have some fun.¡± Hendrick¡¯s expression was as simple as ever, the freckles around his cheeks underlining his light-headedness. Jack sighed once again. What Hendrick said was ¨C as usual ¨C very straight forward. He had already expected a simple answer to his question, since he was used to it from him. Hendrick wasn¡¯t a deep thinker, always just living on the surface of life. But his words made sense, which struck him even harder. It certainly wasn¡¯t the first time his deep thoughts had hidden a simple answer from him. Finally, he said, ¡°You might be right.¡± Hendrick scratched himself on the back of his head, said in a distant voice, ¡°You think so? I had already expected you to dissect my argument.¡± ¡°Nah, you¡¯re right. This might be the only chance I get to live through something like this. I might as well enjoy it. Even if there are no stars I can see, I can still fill in the gaps to imagine something even bigger up there. Let¡¯s find out what this game is all about.¡± Hendrick smiled, and his shy expression was washed away in an instant. I can still ask more questions tomorrow, Jack thought. But I should really get some rest now. Somehow I feel tired now. Jack managed a smile, got up, and walked to the ladder. ¡°A real-life pen and paper, huh? Thanks for clearing my head, Hen. I will head downstairs now, since a day filled to the brim with adventure will be awaiting us tomorrow.¡± He started descending the steps accompanied by silent wooden squeaking, then stopped midway. He looked at Hendrick, said, ¡°Oh¡­ one more thing, Hen.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the matter?¡± ¡°I get to be the group leader.¡± Hendrick rolled his eyes. ¡°If you manage to convince Jim, go for it.¡± ¡°Nice. You can both be berserkers then.¡± ¡°Nah¡­ I¡¯ll think of another role which fits me better. I¡¯m certain Jim will be the most capable berserker in our group.¡± ¡°Yea¡­ at least if ¡®Swash Bros¡¯ combos work in here,¡± Jack said, gestured with one hand like swinging an axe. Both of them laughed as the red filter woven into the sky covered the landscape like a blanket of colour. Not a single breeze of air was moving through the massive paths between giant walls close by. Jack descended the stairs and laid down inside of the wooden room. Now that Hendrick had mentioned it, it almost looked like his old tree-house back at home. He fell asleep quickly, a familiar feeling comforting him as he drifted towards tomorrow. --- Hendrick Hendrick ascended the white marble steps of the temple like structure, his two friends accompanying him. Jack spent most of the time looking around while Jim kept his gaze down, probably attempting to not vomit. They had spent a couple of hours navigating through the never-ending plains of this realm, using the map he had drawn in school assisted by easily recognizable parts of the maze. To his luck, everything had worked out as planned so far. The others didn¡¯t have much questions, followed his guidance. The building they were currently ascending stood out pretty obvious compared to the rest of the area, which had made it easier to to find. A huge pyramid shaped structure built entirely out of smooth white marble ¨C a relaxation for the eyes between all the bright colours. As the group of three got closer to the top, now around 100 meters above the flat colourful ground, Jim raised his voice. ¡°Did I ever mention that I hate staircases?¡± ¡°Yea, around 3 times already,¡± Jack said. ¡°Also, Hen is the fat one, so stop complaining.¡± Hendrick shot over an ironic glare to Jack, then smiled thinly. ¡°Very funny, mister leader. Tell me how you would have found this place without the help of my map?¡± ¡°Unfair dude, you just copy pasted it somewhere,¡± Jack said, started scratching his forehead. ¡°Now that I think about it, how did you know the layout?¡± He¡¯s asking questions again, he thought. Hen cleared his throat, responded, ¡°I will explain everything once the time for it comes. You guys don¡¯t want to ruin the experience of our adventure, do you?¡± Jim, who still had his gaze locked at the stairs in front of him, raised his voice, said, ¡°Yea, sure mister ¡®hacker-man-I-cheat-myself-through-the-giant-toy-maze¡¯ guy.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you focus on not looking down?¡± Hendrick asked. ¡°Pretty high up here, isn¡¯t it?¡± ¡°Shut up.¡± They laughed. After he had ascended the last couple of stairs, Hendrick found himself in front of a marble platform. 4 pillars stood tall on the edges of the platform, showing symbols of unknown origin. Hendrick had no idea what they meant. Echoing footsteps on hard flooring were the only sounds audible for a moment, then Jack started talking. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say the Doll-Maker lives in a cave? How come we are up here now?¡± ¡°Just watch.¡± Hendrick walked to the middle of the platform, moved on top of a pressure plate which caused some of the marble stones to slide out of place and cause a marble table to get elevated out of the ground. On the table rested three giant scissors and a toy gun. A couple of meters behind the table, two more pillars ¨C their shape aligning towards each other as they moved upwards ¨C raised out of the moving blocks of massive stone and formed a half-circle five times as tall as Jack, who already was the tallest one of their group. Then small blue clouds started spinning inside of the half circle, fastened and spread themselves until a portal out of blue particles was created. ¡°That¡¯s so fucking cool¡­¡± Jim said with his jaw dropped. ¡°This will take us directly to the cave where the Doll-Maker lives. Take these. We are going to need them for our plan.¡± Hendrick had picked up two of the big scissors, threw them toward his friends, who caught the blades with surprisingly good reflexes. He saw the sceptical expressions on their faces, explained: ¡°It hunts with strings, you can cut them with these scissors. We also might need them to set Anna free.¡± Jim beamed as he held the pair of scissors like a sword. It was clearly visible that he felt way cooler than he actually was, but Hendrick decided to keep him inside of his delusion. ¡°It¡¯s dangerous to go alone. Take these oversized fucking scissors,¡± Jack said, acting like he was a lot older than he actually was. ¡°I¡¯m going to run with this thing in my hands and there''s no break supervisor who can stop me.¡± A maniacal laughter followed Jim¡¯s words, which could be clearly interpreted as a threat. Hendrick took the toy gun for himself, opened it up to reveal one bullet inside of the chamber. He showed it to the others, flicked the cylinder back with a jerk of the hand. ¡°This is not a toy. We only have one bullet, but if I aim it right, it might kill that thing.¡± ¡°Shouldn¡¯t we take the other scissors as well?¡± Jack asked. ¡°We might need a weapon for Anna later on.¡± ¡°No. It would mean extra weight, and we can¡¯t afford that for our plan. We need to be fast.¡± Jack stepped forward, scissor in one hand as he gestured with the other, said, ¡°Alright, then let¡¯s get moving now. I really want to see Anna safe.¡± ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll tell you about the details once we are inside of the cave. As long as you follow my plan, everything should go well.¡± Hendrick turned, moved towards the portal. He heard footsteps follow him, then Jim¡¯s mumbled voice, ¡°Okay, deep down sounds better to me than high up. Let¡¯s get this started.¡± ¡°The leader accepts your decisions and allows you to continue,¡± Jack said. Hendrick took a deep breath. He was now certain. And he stepped through the misty clouds of the portal, blue void enveloping him as he felt his body getting transported to a different location. He was going to make it. --- 6 - Useless Anna Blurred images spun inside of Anna¡¯s head, slowly taking shape. There was a faint buzzing, which sounded so distant yet felt so close. The pictures begun to sharpen as the buzzing decreased in volume. Anna slowly got her grip on reality back. Her eyes darted from left to right, her whole body ringing alarm signals which shot through her body. There was deep, stinging pain, but she couldn¡¯t yet locate where exactly it came from. Dark walls of boulder and stone formed the surrounding room: a tunnel shaped structure spanning a diameter of roughly 5 meters. The area was lit in a dim, shady light, just enough to see clearly, but the light¡¯s source was nowhere to be found. Anna saw some twists and turns of the cave in the distance, but her view wasn¡¯t going very far in either direction. Anna wanted to gasp, realized she couldn¡¯t. There was a deep, stinging pain originating from her mouth. She couldn¡¯t open it, the pain only worsening at each subsequent attempt. The beast that had captured her was nowhere to be seen. This was probably a hiding place of some sort. For some reason, it didn¡¯t look like anything they had seen before, the place contrasting with the colourful and shiny landscape they had been travelling through earlier that day. Or was it that day? How much time had passed since she had passed out? Anna remembered the fate that had unfolded onto her. For a second, she remembered the twitching hands restricting her movements. She remembered them pushing her inside the gooey mass, limiting her breath until she had passed out. She barely managed to contain her tears. But Anna wanted to cry out. Her mind immediately wandered to blaming Hendrick again, his sneeze that had ruined everything. But she realized that blaming him would be of no use now. She had escaped by herself, and she had been caught by her own fault. Now she was here, and it would most likely be the end of her. She wondered if her attempts to be perfect and please her parents had been of any use. They appeared to be so trivial and useless now. How stupid she had been keeping herself drawn inwards, refusing so many nice things just to please them with their over the top expectations. And even though she had tried to be useful to her parents her whole life¡­ she had been a burden to her friends now. She had been useless, and she made a point to herself that she would change that if she somehow managed to get out of this. Metallic scratching sounded through the cave as the demon moved around a corner which laid out of Anna¡¯s sight. She stayed as quiet as possible, tried to remain calm. It moved closer, turning its mask sideways as if to examine her. The music box, which seemed to be inserted into its back, let out a single sound, almost as if curious. Anna took the opportunity to analyse her options. Her hands appeared to be lifted above her head, strings holding her mid-air by her hands. They were the same strings that the being had used earlier to capture her, the hooks still embedded through her palm and clinging onto her flesh. There wasn¡¯t much dried blood on her palms, which probably meant the hooks were intended to capture, not break. She followed the hooks upwards to find out where the strings were attached to. It looked like they were attached to the ceiling of the cave¡­ the weird part was that the strings didn¡¯t look like they were fixed there; they moved back and forth slightly, as if they would expand inside of the wall, ignoring the fact that stone was solid matter. Her back leaned against stone, the ground was around 1 feet beneath her. The Doll-Maker, which was now very close to Anna, moved a single hand across Anna¡¯s cheek, caressing it with a gentle touch. It felt cold, lifeless even, but it seemed genuine as well. She focused, took a couple of deep breaths. Hen had stated earlier that the creature usually captures its targets and keeps them for a while until it starts turning them into its creations. Maybe there was still a way out of this. Maybe if she would push herself off the wall with the right timing, she could attempt to ¨C Her thought process was interrupted by a familiar shouting with a light voice-crack in its tone echoing through the cave: ¡°Hey, get over here, toy-fucker!¡± Anna never thought she would ever be so relieved to hear Jack¡¯s voice. She felt a light sting inside of her cheek shortly before the Doll-Maker backed up with a chaotic mess of sounds originating out of its music box. Anna saw the multiple rows of arms on its back shake and twitch in visual distress. Then she felt a single drop of blood roll down her cheek. The voices origin had been distant and the way the cave was structured made it hard to spot where exactly it had come from, but the message¡¯s purpose was clear: The being reacted to sound... they wanted to lure it away from her! And it worked. The Doll-Maker started scratching, clawing inside of the stone underneath its body as it accelerated, then moved through the twists and turns off the cave until it was out of sight. Anna felt blood drip on her shirt, but she didn¡¯t care about it getting dirty anymore. The sound of rapidly approaching footsteps grabbed her attention ¨C one pair of footsteps, a single person. Jim ran into Anna¡¯s field of vision, big smile on his face, even bigger pair of scissors pointing upwards held with both of his hands. He was panting lightly, his hair even more messy than usual. He halted for a moment, as if to prepare for something, then exclaimed with a deeper than usual voice: ¡°Fear not, my young lady, your saviour has arrived!¡± --- Hendrick Hendrick slid open the cylinder of his toy gun to make sure the bullet was still there. It was. Every detail counted now. Everything needed to work out exactly like he had planned. This one bullet would decide the fate of the two of them. Hendrick slid the cylinder back inside of the gun, took a deep breath, said: ¡°You got our plan, right?¡± Jack looked at his scissors, appeared to be pretty calm for the situation they were currently in. ¡°Yea. Let¡¯s kill it.¡± This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°Once we lured it far enough away from the others, we can kill it in the place where it expects it the least.¡± ¡°The place where it sleeps. Got it.¡± Jack had his view still focused on the pair of scissors. ¡°We split up after the second turn, and I take the long way around. You set up the trap, and I will guide it there.¡± Hendrick smiled. It was funny how much Jack had gotten into it in such a short time. It seemed like the talk last night had really been important to him. Metallic scratching could be heard as the sound of a lightly echoing music box approached at a rather quick pace. Hendrick took another deep breath. ¡°Seems like its showtime.¡± The echoing moved around the cave like waves clashing against its rock surface. Hendrick gripped his toy-gun a little tighter. Then it slid around the corner, metallic legs scratching it forward as its unnecessarily long neck tilted towards them. It had locked its target. The music box¡¯s playing picked up in pace and volume, the hollow smile on the mask pointing towards them. ¡°Now!¡± They started running. --- Jim The Doll-Maker had moved far enough away to become inaudible. The plan has worked, Jim thought. Nice, all is going well. After he had cut the strings that had kept Anna suspended in the air, they had started moving, moving in the direction Hendrick had told him to. They were just a couple of minutes away from the place they were supposed to wait. The tunnel system sure would be confusing if someone wouldn¡¯t know the layout, but Jim had memorized which direction at which cross-way to go. It was a blessing Hendrick had all of that information noted on his grammar exam, since survival really was more important than tenses. Anna was still visibly distressed, looking around as if someone or something could jump on her every moment. Jim decided he should calm her down a little, said, ¡°You¡¯re safe now. Hendrick and Jack will get rid of the thing for us. Also¡­ it¡¯s still a game, remember.¡± ¡°Shut up,¡± Anna said. ¡°The pain here is real¡­ I don¡¯t know how you can stay ca-¡± ¡°Sure, I mean, without a little bit of tension it would be boring, right?¡± ¡°You are aware that the pain means Hen lied to us, right? He said there only is slight pain, but the one I felt wasn¡¯t even close to being slight.¡± ¡°He probably just said it so we won¡¯t get scared. Let¡¯s just ask him about it later, alright?¡± Anna remained silent for a moment, then nodded yes. ¡°I just have the feeling something here is off. Something just doesn¡¯t add up.¡± Anna was still pronouncing things a little messy, probably because of the strings that had kept her lips sewn together earlier. Luckily, Jim had been able to change that with his scissors. All that remained now were small red dots from where the strings had been. Jim had to admit that this location was kind of creepy, but at the same time it was super cool as well. The two of them reached another crossing. Left, Right, Right, Center¡­ now we need to go right, he thought. He moved towards the right tunnel. Anna followed him. ¡°Anna, look. I got a big ass scissors and in case anything attacks you I will protect you. Don¡¯t make a big deal out of it and just play along. It will be fun, ight?¡± Jim gave Anna a confident smile which was met with a glance. Anna didn¡¯t respond, just continued walking. After a couple of minutes, they spotted a suspicious hole in the side of one of the tunnels. It didn¡¯t look like the other ones ¨C which seemed to be fitting and created by nature. No, it rather looked like it had been scratched into the rock, clawed down with brute force. It was easily big enough for them to just walk into. Jim stopped walking, hesitated. He could have sworn he had heard something from inside of there. Their original goal was not too far away. Anna turned towards him, looked at the hole, then back at him. ¡°What¡¯s the matter? You stated we were almost there. Just ignore it and keep going.¡± ¡°But it looks interesting. Maybe there is some cool extra stuff in there.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bad idea. What if it comes back?¡± ¡°It won¡¯t. Hen and Jack are keeping it far away. Come on, I bet there¡¯s sick loot somewhere hidden in there.¡± Jim turned right, started walking into it. If he had learned one thing from exploring caves in video games, then it was that pathways which looked odd always contained secrets. And he was more than ready for secrets. He heard a voice from behind him. ¡°Jim? Ah for fucks sake¡­¡± Hurried footsteps followed behind him. The path went through a few turns and twists. Then, a stone staircase presented itself in front of them. Its stairs were out of rock, clawing marks all over them. It certainly had been crafted by the Doll-Maker as well, but with more care than the tunnel itself. It was a rather open room, pillars out of stone emerging from the sides of the staircase towards the ceiling rather high up. Jim followed the staircase with his eyes, was met with a bright appearance. At the top of the staircase, a giant door rested inside of the rock. It was very colourful and appeared ¨C in contrast to the other things around ¨C to not be made out of stone. ¡°See, I told ya there was going to be a secret somewhere.¡± Jim started ascending the steps, looking around at the room he was inside of. The pillars were all carefully crafted, patterns and symbols carved inside of them. Anna stopped for a second, examined one of the pillars closer. She used her left hand to scratch her nose, said, ¡°I think I have seen that one before¡­ is it the same language as on the gate?¡± Jim looked closer, put his finger on one of the symbols. ¡°Perhaps. It seems kind of weird that this giant thing was able to craft stuff like this with such care, won¡¯t you think?¡± ¡°I have seen it sew my mouth shut with precision and without any intention of harm¡­ rather silence. It probably can be accurate if it feels like it. I don¡¯t want to know what happens if you make it angry, though.¡± Anna backed off from the pillar, looked at her palms, then upstairs. ¡°Let¡¯s not be here to find out. We need to hurry.¡± ¡°You have no reason to worry, Ann. It probably is already dead.¡± ¡°What if Hendrick misses the shot?¡± ¡°He won¡¯t.¡± ¡°...¡± A muffled sound from upstairs broke the silence. It had gotten louder than before¡­ his ears hadn¡¯t deceived him. Jim shook his uncertainty off, kept ascending the stairs. It was a game after all. What was supposed to happen? He didn¡¯t know if that chance would come again, so he might as well use it to enjoy a real adventure. He made it to the top of the staircase, looked up and down at the massive door. Light shone out of it, and on its surface were more of the odd symbols from earlier. It stood open just about 20 degrees, but that was more than enough for him to slip through. He looked down at his scissors for a moment, made sure Anna was still behind him, then moved forward. After he moved past the door, his eyes needed a moment to get used to the sharp contrast from the area before. He saw what laid in front of him. His jaw dropped. ¡°Anna, I think you should see this.¡± --- 7 - Collect Anna As Anna slid through the partly opened door to follow Jim, a breathtaking sight unfolded in front of her. The grim lighting of the cave had faded and had been replaced by a bright white light that shone from above. In front of them was a roughly cylindrical room, around 50 meters in diameter. The walls were shaped out of toys ¨C like the ones at outside of the cave ¨C and towered upwards until out of sight. In the open space between the room¡¯s tower-like walls, countless giant toys were suspended in mid-air, held up by the Doll-Maker¡¯s strings ¨C which could be made out by the reflection of them in the light which loomed from the false sky above. The floor once more consisted out of colourful, plastic-like bricks. In the middle of the room was a massive pile consisting of presents, all neatly arranged in wrapping paper, tidy and with care. Anna and Jim looked at each other. She hesitated. Jim nodded. ¡°But this makes no sense. We are underground, right? If there would have been a tower that tall, we would have seen it from miles away.¡± ¡°Maybe we just got teleported far enough away? Or this is how it enters its cave and we are actually just very deep down?¡± Another coughing sound emitted not too far away from them ¨C this time more loud and clear. It had originated from the pile of presents. Jim held up his scissors, started walking forward. ¡°Help me search. Maybe there is someone still alive hiding in there. And keep your eyes open for loot.¡± Anna rearranged her ponytail to calm herself down, followed her friend towards the pile, ¡°I think we shouldn¡¯t be at this place.¡± ¡°You wanted to be saved too, right?¡± Jim pointed his scissors into the direction of the pile, which was at least 10 meters high. ¡°Maybe the person had a similar fate¡­ just didn¡¯t get saved.¡± Realizing that Jim had a point, Anna nodded and walked over to the pile, started examining it closer. She had made a promise to herself, and she had to back it up with actions now. Jim walked to the right, kept his scissor close as he left her field of vision. She moved to the left to cover more ground. Right as Anna walked past one of the presents, she could have sworn she had heard another cough, only quieter this time. She also realized how well packed up the presents were, like from someone very skilled. The paper had no dirty spots or unevenly folded sides, and every single one was nicely arranged. What also stood out was that no present looked like another. They all looked unique. How did this stuff even get here? Maybe she shouldn¡¯t think about logic at this place too much, but it still seemed odd. Then, another cough. This time, it sounded more like a grunt, a muffled panting. This one! she thought. Anna pulled one present from the pile, got it down with a lot of effort. Whatever was in there was very heavy. Perhaps Jim¡¯s assumption had been right, but his reasoning was flawed since the person wouldn¡¯t have been able to package themselves up from the inside. She peered down on the box. A green and red striped package just big enough for someone around her size to hide inside of¡­ great. Anna pulled on the blue ribbon which rested on top of the present, then pulled off the band attached to it. She used her fingernails to pull away the wrapping paper, revealed a cardboard box underneath. Slow, hesitant fingers hovered over the box. She slowly moved her fingers to the pieces of cardboard, took a deep breath. Another grunt emitted from the inside the cardboard box. She opened the present. There was a brief moment of realization. Anna stumbled backwards in terror, almost tripped over herself while doing so. She felt a sudden pressure up her chest, was forced to turn away. The picture rattled through her mind as she felt herself shaking, fell to her knees as they gave away from the shock. Unable to contain herself, she vomited on a light blue block of flooring, her breakfast from yesterday splattering over the floor as her throat filled with sour taste. A high pitched-scream from the other side of the room was audible. Anna placed her left hand on the floor, managed to get up. She started running as fast as she could towards where the scream had originated from, almost ran into Jim, who had been sprinting as well. ¡°J-Jim. Inside of the box¡­ I-I¡­¡± Jim¡¯s eyes carried a glint of uncomfortable flatness, but he started laughing as soon as he saw Anna, said, ¡°Ha-ha-ha. I really got you right there, didn¡¯t I?¡± He grabbed Anna¡¯s wrist, looked at her with unfamiliar seriousness. ¡°W-we should really leave now. The others are probably already waiting for us.¡± ¡°Jim¡­ It looked like¡­¡± Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. ¡°We need to go now.¡± Anna noticed Jim¡¯s other hand shaking heavily, his scissors held in a tight grip. She nodded. They turned away from the pile of presents, away from these so invitingly packed boxes, and started running. Anna did not turn around. She did not speak a single word. She just ran. And while running down the staircase which had brought them to this place, One thought echoed inside her head: So this is how it got its name. --- Jack Jack ducked away to the right as a needle hissed past him. He made a surprising turn, caused the creature behind him to smash against a rock wall, debris and stones falling towards the cave floor. It screeched, the music box emitting tones in harsh frequencies. ¡°Yes, go fuck yourself you giant pile of trash!¡± he shouted, saw the beast rage in movement. Another half a dozen of needles came darting at him, which he dodged gracefully. He had gotten Hendrick enough time, now he only needed to reach the room. Hen was going to be positioned in there, waiting until Jack led the monster in position. Once everything would be in place, the Doll-Maker would have nowhere to dodge and the bullet would hit its head behind the mask, killing it in an instant. Jack panted, could feel the sweat run down his face. He himself was surprised by his own amount of stamina, but the fight-or-flight instinct enabled him to move faster than ever before, which really came in handy right now. Another tunnel to the left, then to the right. He turned his head for a second, saw the rows of arms attached to the back of the beast¡¯s body. Like a caterpillar shaped out of void it rolled forward, the strings assisting its body just passing through the solid matter of the cave ceiling like it wasn¡¯t even there. It almost looked like a glitch in a video game, not intended to be this way by its creators. Another hiss filled the air. Jack hadn¡¯t been paying attention for just a second. He felt stinging pain as a needle embedded itself inside of his shoulder. He stumbled, almost fell over. He remembered the words which Hendrick had told him last night: ¡®We need to beat all three stages, then we win. All of our team members who didn¡¯t make it get revived after we win the game. Also, there is no strong pain, remember?¡¯ Jack clasped the scissors with both hands, closed it with brute force. The scissors snipped right through the thread, severed the connection from him to the Doll-Maker. Jack dashed to the right, dodged the other needles flying towards him. He bit down his lower lip hard, tried to ignore the pulsing inside of his shoulder. Questions spun inside of his head. Had Hendrick lied to make him more confident? He didn¡¯t have much time to think, tried to make logical connections. He took the last turn, saw the gigantic door not too far away from him. It was there! This was the room. He just needed to reach it. ¡°Hey, fucker!¡± he screamed to anger the beast and alarm Hendrick at the same time. It raged, smashed into another turn behind him while breaking through a rock formation which had been blocking its path. The door got closer and closer. He was almost there. Needles flew left and right past his head, clattered against the rocks close to him but missed. His shoulder felt numb from pain. He passed through the door, found himself inside of a bright, colourful room. It appeared to be something roughly resembling a child''s bedroom, only massive in scale. In the middle of it, a giant bed rested, a staircase leading towards its mattress high up. He couldn¡¯t see it clearly from his current position, but there definitely was a reddish hill on top of the bed. The Doll-Maker followed him inside of the room, clawed and sprinted after him in a burst of rage. The music had become too fast to follow, no longer following any rhythm at all. Hendrick had been right. It hated loud sounds. He lured it around an oversized toy-box, abusing the creature¡¯s weakness for tight turns as it almost slipped over while drifting around the round-shaped object. ¡°Hey!¡± a voice shouted. Jack¡¯s eyes spotted a familiar person standing close to the gate he had come from. It was Hendrick, who was waving his arms to get Jack¡¯s attention. ¡°Here! Fast!¡± This was it! Everything was in place. Jack started sprinting back towards the door. Another needle hit his arm, but he immediately cut the string and kept running. He didn¡¯t care about the pain anymore. Pain? Why was it there? He got closer to the door again, saw Hendrick more clearly now. He held the gun with his right hand, his arm outstretched and focused on the Doll-Maker. His arm didn¡¯t even shake the tiniest bit. Jack was now certain. ¡°Kill it!¡± he shouted. He locked eyes with Hendrick for just a split second, saw the unfamiliar emptiness in his gaze. And as Jack got close enough, and his friend moved his arm in quick motion, Jack dodged to the right in the last possible moment, predicting Hendrick to take his focus off the Doll-Maker. Hendrick pulled the trigger. A loud bang echoed through the tunnels. Jack fell to the floor, his leg giving away as the bullet passed right through his knee. He saw the wide smile on Hendrick¡¯s face¡­ ...and there was pain. --- 8 - Pain Jim A couple of minutes later and out of breath, Jim and Anna reached the meeting spot. Right as they stopped running, they heard rapidly approaching footsteps. Jim held up his scissors, made himself ready to attack in case of an emergency. Hendrick almost ran into Jim¡¯s scissors as he turned the corner. He appeared to be out of breath as well, his eyes quickly darting from side to side. ¡°Hendrick, where is Jack?¡± Anna asked. Hendrick looked at his own trembling hands, the toy-gun still gripped tight. He let go of it as it fell to the floor. ¡°I-I¡­ Jack... he¡¯s¡­¡± ¡°What happened?¡± Jim interrupted. He had a feeling that this dream was slowly evolving into something else. He also didn¡¯t feel like fooling around anymore. This just wasn¡¯t funny. ¡°The shot¡­ it didn¡¯t kill the Doll-Maker. It survived and got Jack. I didn¡¯t want this to happen, I swear.¡± A deep despair could be heard in Hendrick¡¯s shaky and somewhat distant voice. Anna moved over to Hendrick, embraced him. A quiet sobbing was audible. Jim didn¡¯t feel like hearing any of that bullshit. ¡°Y-You mentioned that it captures its prey a couple of days before it kills them. We can still go back and save him, right.¡± ¡°No¡­ without the gun, we have no chance against it. It won¡¯t fall for the same trick again so we can¡¯t lure it away¡­ also¡­¡± Hendrick hesitated, as if he tried to find the right words. Jim pressed, asked, ¡°Also? Focus, we have no time.¡± ¡°We need to go now.¡± ¡°No! If you don¡¯t go, I go alone,¡± Jim said. ¡°I saw him get impaled by one of its legs. He is dead, Jim.¡± ¡°...¡± Anna let go of Hendrick¡¯s embrace. She just stood there, as if to figure out what to say. She moved her hand towards her hair, but stopped herself before readjusting anything. ¡°Hendrick is right, we need to go now.¡± Jim clenched his teeth, pushed Hendrick. ¡°What the fuck did you do? Why did you let him die?¡± ¡°W-what do you mean?¡± ¡°You fucking idiot! This is all your fault.¡± Jim felt emotions inside of him he couldn¡¯t quite put anywhere. This was all way too fucked up for comfort. The picture of what he had seen inside of the hidden room flashed inside of his inner eye once again. ¡°Do you have any idea what this thing will do to him?¡± Hendrick had wiped away his tears, seemed to be more calm now, ¡°See who¡¯s talking, mister joke around. If you wouldn¡¯t have fooled around all the time, maybe he would still be alive now.¡± ¡°What?¡± Jim stepped forward, but someone stepped in between him and Hendrick. It was Anna. ¡°You two, stop! We don¡¯t have the time for this now. I got caught, it is my fault he is dead.¡± ¡°Anna¡­¡± Jim said. ¡°It is. And I will take responsibility for it, but we have to leave first. This place isn¡¯t safe.¡± Jim¡¯s mind snapped back to the present he had seen once again. The blonde hair it had¡­ he thought. Just like hers. Hendrick stared at Jim for a moment longer, then turned away. ¡°Follow me,¡± he said. ¡°I''ll show you the way out of here. The portal to the second stage is around 2 minutes away. Let¡¯s hurry.¡± And then, with a surprising clarity in his voice, Hendrick added, ¡°If we escape, his death wasn¡¯t pointless at least.¡± And they started running towards the portal. Not once looking back. --- Jack Pain. It had grasped Jack¡¯s entire body, embedded itself into every fibre of his very being. The physical pain was already unbearable, but what really drove him crazy was the psychic pain induced by the person he had trusted to death. Everything had happened so fast, movements and actions flashing through his inner eye at a fast pace. He saw it so clearly in front of him. Hendrick¡¯s smile. The wide grin on his stupid face. That rotten fucking bastard. The cold, black hands held Jack in a tight grip as the Doll-Maker carried him above its main body. It had pinned him down earlier, broken his arms so he couldn¡¯t defend himself anymore. It hadn¡¯t even required its effort, had snapped them like tiny twigs. His glasses had been broken while the whole situation had been going on, which made it harder to focus on details which were far away from him. Jack refused to believe that Hendrick had really done that to him. There had been too many signs by now. Him using his other hand; him acting differently... the look in his eyes. Whatever the creature was that was currently wearing Hendrick¡¯s skin, it wasn¡¯t the Hen he knew. And knowing that this being would probably go for his friends next made him fall into even deeper despair. Now it was carrying him up the stairs to the massive bed in the middle of the room. The needles apparently grew out of its hands, since Jack could feel the tips of needles pressing from where its palms were holding him. It was like a wordless threat. Why? Why did he do this? Did he lure it out here so no one would hear my screams? I don¡¯t understand. Jack¡¯s thoughts circled round and round as the Doll-Maker kept ascending, the subtle and now rather calm sound of the music box accompanying their ascent. As they reached the last couple of stairs, the surface of the mattress got visible. It looked like a battlefield, blood and remains of human parts spread all over its otherwise soft and cozy looking surface. The parts were almost unrecognizable, torn outwards or twisted to inhuman shape. Some appeared to be ripped off, some cut off, and some simply crushed by brute force. Around the centre of it all, the pile which Jack had spotted earlier stood out from the otherwise rather flat surface. Human corpses, he thought. Jack wanted to cry out, but his screams had been silenced a couple of minutes earlier. The screams had only made it more angry, more violent. No one could hear him except for it up here anyways, so there was no use crying for help anymore. There was no hope. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. He felt a movement of the arms which carried him, lowering him a little before throwing him through the air towards the centre of the mattress. He landed a couple of meters next to the pile, which was now close enough to examine. The metallic noise it made was almost quiet now, yet he heard it inching closer. It was rather slow now, as if it knew that it wouldn¡¯t need to hurry anymore. Jack turned his head towards the pile of human bodies. At first, he didn¡¯t see much except blood and gory mass. There wasn¡¯t much recognizable detail, besides a few exceptions. The victims were all wearing... the same clothes? Another detail that stood out was that they all had no eyes, their empty eye sockets revealing reddened skin in varying states of decay. Jack forced a dry swallow. Then something caught his eye. One of the faces seemed familiar. He narrowed his eyes, tried to see clear through all the panic which flooded his body with adrenalin, telling him to turn to his enemy, which was still silently approaching. One corpse, which was more or less still recognizable, rested on top of the pile. Its motionless head was turned in his direction ¨C empty eye sockets carved inside of a bony, thin and dark-skinned face. He must have been alive for a longer period of time before he eventually died. Jack forced himself to examine further. The remains of hair could be seen on its partly ripped open head¡­ and a blood soaked buttoned shirt covered parts of its body. Jack shivered in disbelief. Right as he wanted to reassure his assumption, a loud screeching sounded from behind him. He turned and got met by a white mask presenting an unnaturally wide smile hovering just inches from his head. A long neck expanded from it, dark red and fleshy in presence. The head tilted to the left and right, examining Jack, observing. Waiting. He was now able to get a closer look at it. The body of the thing ¨C which was made out of a black gooey mass ¨C almost looked like a giant caterpillar, various strings emerging out of it and assisting its posture. The strings went right through the ceiling, still ignoring the laws of physics like before. On the back of its worm-like body were five rows of dry looking arms... like they had grown out of it at some point. Countless metallic, thin and round needle-like legs stuck sideways out of the lower half of its body, which made a 90-degree bend in the middle and then pointed straight towards the floor. Jack looked at it, his heart beating up to his brain as he searched for a way out. He could think of none. There was nothing left he could do¡­ Nothing? No¡­ He wouldn¡¯t go down as a coward. He gathered all of his confidence, spat onto the mask. As saliva ran down its smooth surface, Jack raised his now rather weak voice: ¡°Go fuck yourself!¡± The music stopped. And it almost seemed like the smile on the mask had grown an inch wider. One row of arms opened its palms, the dry skin moving aside as needles emerged out of them. The Doll-Maker rammed them inside of Jack¡¯s palms, moved the hands away as strings came out of the spots which had earlier revealed the needles. He got lifted into the air, arms held up high above his head. It played him like a puppet on strings. Jack held back a whimper. He bit his lip, kept pushing: ¡°Who are you? Why do these corpses look like¨C¡° He got silenced by loud chaotic notes as a hand pressed against his mouth, a needle stinging right through his lower lip and inside of his tongue. Jack coughed up some blood as the needle got pulled out again. He saw one hand in front of the Doll-Maker¡¯s mask with one outstretched finger signalling him to stay quiet. More rows of hands appeared close to Jack¡¯s face, one held his chin raised as he was forced to face the mask. Jack let out muffled sounds as he felt his mouth fill with warm blood. Then, without a warning, one hand started using a thinner needle to sew his mouth shut. His lips got pressed against each other as the needle cut through his skin like butter, fixating his mouth. Jack was forced to swallow, a taste of warm iron spreading inside his throat. He squirmed and tried to break free. He moved every still movable fibre of his body to escape, but it had no use. Tears started running down his face as he saw his inevitable fate play out in front of him. Why? Why had he trusted him? He had told him there would be no pain in here, that everything would be fine. He had told him that it would be just like in the games, the countless adventures they had had together¡­ This didn¡¯t make sense. Jack was 100% sure that he had predicted his betrayal. He had stepped to the side in the last possible moment, which should have made it impossible for Hendrick, no, that thing, to predict his movement. Except... Two hands with opened palms revealed themselves. Only the tip of needles could be seen sticking out of them. They hovered there lifelessly, unmoving as another hand emerged and placed itself on the Doll-Maker¡¯s mask. It got a hold of it, grabbed it with its fingers, and slowly pulled it off. Jack¡¯s eyes widened. And as the two hands which had hovered in front of Jack placed themselves on his eyes, and he felt the needles slowly force their way through his irises and beyond, one question remained lingering inside his head: Why do all these corpses look like me? ----- Stage 1 End ----- 9 - Changes Jeff Piles upon piles of scrap cluttered the worn down rooms of Jeff¡¯s home, dozens if not hundreds of beer cans forming small hills behind and between the furniture. Jeff threw a cigarette butt into a slightly out of reach, half-empty liquor glass as it added itself to the swarm of similar looking objects which covered the dark fluid¡¯s surface. He lit himself another cigarette. The liquid in the half-empty glass darkened a little further. A grey cloud of cigarette smoke hung on the upper half of the room, clinching to the wooden ceiling like attempting to hide what laid beyond. Jeff didn¡¯t bother to open a window, since the cloud would just reappear anyways. He felt like Sisyphus, rolling his smoke-rock up an endless, steep sloped mountain. Except his life was all slopes, and they somehow kept getting steeper. Jeff zipped across different TV programs, nothing really catching his attention as he continued scrolling through an endless seeming stream of reboots and remakes of the same old shows. He sighed, drowned another cigarette in a glass nearby. Jeff made sure to keep track of which his current drinking glass was. He hadn¡¯t paid attention to it once, would not make that mistake again. The room was ill lit, heavy curtains guarding in front of the windows like the heroes they were. They acted as a border between him and the outside world. He lit another cigarette, pulled on it. The bell rang. Jeff hesitated for a moment while holding in the smoke, then exhaled in light confusion. He got up, walked along the small path he had left open between the cans and other rubbish. He opened the door, the smoke cloud partly escaping to the outside world as he did. He looked down, seeing a rather young male around the age of maybe 15 or 16. He coughed while rummaging around in a bag way too big for his size. ¡°Good evening, mister Grimes.¡± ¡°Evening?¡± Jeff sighed, said, ¡°Listen kid, I already said you more than enough times that I don¡¯t want your fucking advert¡­ oh.¡± The ¡®kid¡¯ had pulled a letter out of his bag, held it in Jeff¡¯s direction. Jeff recognized the printed-on logo right away. Black letters red the abbreviation ¡®C.U.A¡¯. He had almost forgotten about that application he had sent there a while ago. Jeff hesitated, then frowned. ¡°Is this some kind of poor joke? Getting the hopes of the ex-officer up?¡± He snatched the letter out of the kid¡¯s hand, examined it further. The kid shook his head. ¡°The address and everything is legit, that¡¯s all I know.¡± Jeff scratched his not so short anymore moustache ¨C which had gotten a little more bristly over the last few months. ¡°Well¡­ thanks.¡± ¡°No problem mis-¡± Jeff slammed the door shut before he could hear the rest of the kid¡¯s sentence. He rapidly crossed over to his kitchen, wiped some empty cans off the counter to open up some space. He grabbed a nearby knife, opened up the letter with hurried care. He pulled out the piece of paper, unfolded it with briefly shaking hands. His eyes danced over the words, took in the message delivered by them. He felt one corner of his mouth lift an millimeter. ¡°No fucking way.¡± --- A few days later Anna Particles of blue light flashed around, sparkling and flowing into a never-ending stream of colour. Like caught in the currents of the ocean, she felt herself getting transported from one place to another, floating through the fabric of reality as time around her seemed to stand still. There was something quite peaceful to it, like being inside the eye of a storm. She enjoyed the moment of peace, without worry and pain, just floating between space and matter alongside the particles rhythmically dancing across reality. It felt a little bit like back in the ball-pit, but there was something else. If this really was the eye of the storm, then leaving it meant getting thrown back into the harsh winds and rain, the howling and pouring forces of nature. But somehow she didn¡¯t care about it anymore. She had the feeling that her path had gotten more clear. It didn¡¯t need to be perfect any longer, it just needed to be walked, which enveloped her in an unfamiliar feeling of relief and lightness. The particles faded and reality begun materializing around her again. She had left the portal. Hendrick and Jim appeared next to her only a fraction of a second later. They had arrived in the order in which they had entered the portal. A handful of particles danced around the three of them momentarily before fading into nothingness. There were no signs of the portal which remained after that. Anna would have loved to stay inside of the portal for just a little longer. There had been such a calming feeling to it. The possibility of forgetting what she had seen¡­ she would give a lot for it now. Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings. But it was time to move on now. Things had to change. Her eyes got used to the less bright place, colours in shades of black and grey painting the surrounding area. She smelled the stench of iron in the air, the ground beneath her feet feeling familiar yet at the same time not familiar at all. They had been teleported to something which at first glance resembled a dense jungle, thick layers of different plants melting themselves into the scenery. Tall trees towered high above their heads, big leaves high above making it impossible to even see the sky. There was one catch to it: Everything seemed to be changed in colour. Before she could get to any conclusion what exactly the surroundings were made out of, Hendrick moved past her. He walked up to one of the giant trees embedded into the reddish ground beneath, its thick roots ranging wide even on the surface, said, ¡°I know you have a couple of questions, but this one needs to be answered first.¡± He knocked on the tree with his bare hand. A damp metal sound was audible. ¡°Everything here has been made mechanical, or at least has a layer of metal around it.¡± Jim moved over to Hendrick, rammed his scissors inside of the tree. He looked at the scratch he had created, sighed. ¡°For real¡­ Around 3 centimeters deep and there¡¯s no sign of wood? How deep does that stuff go?¡± ¡°It depends on how long it has been coated already. Let¡¯s get moving now, I¡¯ll explain everything important on the way.¡± ¡°Can you two stop for just a second?¡± Anna said, still trying to take in the scenery around her while processing what had happened less than half an hour ago. ¡°Jack just died and you two just plan to keep going?¡± Hendrick hid his lips for a moment, walked up to Anna, said: ¡°Anna, listen. It could as well have been all of us if things would have gone worse. And if we don¡¯t move now, we might all die. The border won¡¯t wait fo-¡± ¡°I don¡¯t care. You lied to us about there being no pain. You also didn¡¯t tell us any details about what we were doing and why while just dragging us along.¡± She sat down on the reddish ground. ¡°I won¡¯t move until you give some answers.¡± Jim was visibly annoyed, let out his anger on the tree trying to get through the metal layer. His attempts were futile, yet he didn¡¯t participate in the conversation. Hendrick scratched himself on the back of his head, sighed. ¡°Yea, well...¡± His gaze moved to Jim, whose expression spoke more than a thousand words. He returned it to Anna, said, ¡°You are right, I fucked up. I should have told you the truth right ahead. I thought if I tell you the pain here is real, you get too afraid to act.¡± ¡°Then will you be transparent from now on?¡± Jim asked. He had given up on the tree, was walking back to the group. ¡°I can¡¯t tell you everything about the game yet, but I will explain what we do and why we do it. No more lies from now on. And once we reach the end of the second stage, I can tell you everything, no exceptions.¡± Hendrick held out his hand towards Anna. ¡°And if I say no exceptions, I mean it. It¡¯s going to make sense then, I promise. No question will be left unanswered.¡± Anna looked to the side, spotted Jim looking in her direction. He still looked unfazed, the usual spark in his eyes nowhere to be seen. After a moment, he shrugged as if asking for Anna to decide. She grabbed the outstretched hand, got up. Hendrick smiled, hugged her. ¡°We will be fine, alright? We¡¯ll make sure you are safe from now on.¡± Anna wanted to pat the dust off her pants, realized she didn¡¯t had to anymore. ¡°Jim¡­¡± Hendrick let go of the hug before Anna could respond to it, turned to Jim. ¡°...Scissors.¡± Jim threw the scissors over to Hendrick, who stepped to the left as it fell to the ground. Anna ¨C who had expected him to catch it ¨C tilted her head to the side in confusion. Jim had reacted to Hendrick¡¯s request quite fast, almost as if he didn¡¯t mind throwing a giant scissors at him right now. ¡°Alright, but what is your pla... wait a second... are you fucking stupid?¡± Jim had started talking, but had interrupted himself at the sight of Hendrick standing on top of the lower half of the scissors while pulling the other half upwards. Jim started moving closer, but stopped as a loud ¡®clank¡¯ sounded through the air. ¡°What it your problem, dude? That was our only weapon¡­¡± Jim said. Hendrick picked up the two halfs, held them like knives. He grinned, said: ¡°And now we have two weapons.¡± He handed one over to Jim, who looked at it with slight suspicion. The suspicion lifted after a moment. ¡°Okay yea, that kinda makes sense,¡± Jim said and balanced the newly acquired weapon in his grip. ¡°We also need a weapon for Anna, though.¡± ¡°I already have something in mind for that,¡± Hendrick said. ¡°But first...¡± Hendrick looked around, pulled the exam out of his pocket, unfolded it. He appeared to read some notes before looking up from it, back at it, then at the surroundings again. ¡°Alright we need to walk into¡­¡± he checked one last time, ¡°¡­ this direction.¡± He put the map away, started walking. Jim followed him without saying a single word. It was weird not hearing him crack jokes all the time, but Anna had to admit it was probably for the better right now. Her mind brought her back to the weird room in the cave. She really wondered what he had seen to make him scream like that back then. She remembered the contents of the present she had opened. The human being... if you could even call it that. It had been stitched and sewn together with what had resembled a stuffed animal of some sort. The pieces of fur which had replaced its limbs, the forced open smile lacking teeth but beaming in screaming terror held by the Doll-Maker¡¯s strings. She remembered the flat marbles which had replaced the person¡¯s original eyes¡­ But the detail that had burned inside of her mind the most was the faint raising and sinking of the person¡¯s chest. Too little to be really alive, but too much to be blessed by the sweet release of death. And the face¡­ The face had looked so familiar. It had been so hard to even see it at first glance, but she was now certain. The abomination inside of the present¡­ It¡¯s face had looked li- ¡°Anna? You coming?¡± It took Anna a moment to realize that Jim had called her. She hesitated, then started to follow him. She took a deep breath and wiped away the thoughts of what had happened. It was time to move on now, for change to unfold. She put her hands behind her head ¨C like she had done a thousand times before ¨C to readjust her ponytail. But this time she grabbed the hairband and pulled it downwards. Her now open hair dangled over her shoulders and partly covered her face. She used two fingers to move a single hairline out of her view and behind her ear. So this is what freedom feels like, huh? she thought. And she started moving through the dense fauna of the mechanical jungle, sources of light emitting from all sorts of different places as they made their way deeper into the metallic wilderness. And left behind, covered by a little bit of copper dust, a single hairband rested on the ground, never to be worn again. --- 10 - Growth Hendrick The navigating process through the second stage was a lot easier than through the first one. Hendrick didn¡¯t need to go one defined way or miss his destination, he just searched for an open space to reorientate and they were good to follow the red beam in the sky. They had around three days of journey in front of them before they would reach the factory. After that, things would get more complicated He needed to make sure that he wouldn¡¯t get killed. The truth had to come to light soon. If he would have to taste just a single strawberry ever again, he would go insane, or more likely, more insane than he already felt. Vines that looked more like cables covered the space between massive copper and brass painted trees. A river of oil slithered its way through the scenery nearby. From the lush trees hung lightbulbs as fruits, keeping the place lit accompanied by a faint buzzing of electricity. There was no visual explanation from where the forest got its energy, but he knew better than that. Hendrick held out his arm to stop Anna and Jim, which had been walking briefly behind. He raised his voice in a quiet tone, said: ¡°Shh¡­ You see that one right there?¡± He pointed towards a deer drinking from the river of oil, its metallic ears twitching back and forth in high alert. It had copper-coloured skin, pistons and other machinery covering its body for the most part. Here and there a part of the real faun looked through, but only faintly. Smoke emitted off its shiny nose as it breathed slowly. ¡°Is that a¡­ cyborg deer?¡± Anna asked, had leaned forward in an attempt so see the creature more clearly. ¡°This one¡¯s infected. Look closely now.¡± Hendrick moved out of the hiding spot, slowly approached the being from behind. It was busy drinking, but he still needed to make sure it wouldn¡¯t notice him. Prey has a wide field of view. It¡¯s in their nature. It is to make sure they can spot any predator or danger close to them early enough so they can run away. The eyes of a predator ¨C on the other hand ¨C are good for locking prey. Hendrick¡¯s eyes were locked. He lifted his newly acquired weapon ¨C holding it tightly with both hands ¨C up, brought it down at a spot between the creature¡¯s neck and upper back where some fur stood out between the metal. The blade cut through the flesh smoothly; the deer letting out a mechanical bleat before stumbling to its knees and finally falling to its side. Its pistons stopped moving, and the smoke ceased to emit from its nose. Jim and Anna followed after a wave of his hand, moved closer as he cut the creature open, revealing leftovers of organs as well as some which were replaced by all sorts of cables and machinery. Some parts of its flesh was tainted like metal, some clumped up and hard, and some even soft, almost like rubber. ¡°This is what happens to living creatures after they infected them with their disease. They take out what they need and let the rest here as spare for later.¡± Anna, who avoided looking directly at the deer, said, ¡°Who would do such a thing to an innocent creature like that? Is that infection the reason why this whole place looks like this?¡± ¡°Yea. And if we won¡¯t move fast enough towards the center of this place, the border will kill us.¡± He pointed upwards. Anna followed his finger, saw something which looked like a red static field far in the distance. It was barely visible through the treetops because of the dense fauna, maybe 5 kilometers away from their current location. ¡°We have enough time for sleeping, since it moves rather slow, but we still have no time to waste. The barrier is some sort of Energy field which kills everything that has less than a certain percentage of machinery inside of it.¡± Jim, who hadn¡¯t even moved a single muscle of his face while looking at the cut open deer, looked Hendrick straight in the eyes, said, ¡°What exactly is in the middle? The portal to the third stage?¡± ¡°Yes, and something else.¡± ¡°What do you mean with something else?¡± Jim kneeled down next to the deer, looked at some of its parts closer. ¡°The factory.¡± Suddenly, a low humming sound accompanied by rhythmical beeping could be heard rapidly approaching. ¡°A spreader is coming,¡± Hendrick said. ¡°We need to hide now.¡± Hendrick waved in a direction, started moving a couple of meters away from the deer. They hid underneath a bush made out of rather fine copper wiring, from where they were able to look out from underneath the bush. The sound increased in volume, the sudden pressure of air making the bush move back and forth slightly. The low humming was now close, but their view was limited to close to the ground in front of them, where the deer was still laying without any glimmer of life left. Hendrick took a glance to the right, where Anna and Jim looked in the direction of the deer. Anna was lightly shaking, seemed to be attempting her best to remain calm. It was clear that she was scared, but she had it under control. Jim, who appeared to be calm, held his scissor knife ready in one hand; placed his other hand on Anna¡¯s shoulder. Anna stopped shaking. Hendrick smiled. From barely out of sight, a couple of mechanical tentacles descended, their ends roughly resembling oversized human hands. Their palms were opened, fine strings which came out of them embedding themselves inside of the deer¡¯s body. They weren¡¯t like the Doll-Maker¡¯s, they were thicker and had a different texture. The spreader has begun scanning, he thought. It¡¯s important that Anna and Jim see one of them, since they need to understand how this place works. The spreader retracted its strings, pulled them back inside of its palms. The appearance of one hand shifted, changed to something which roughly resembled a tube. It then proceeded to spray something on the creature¡¯s wound from the tube, the other hands on tentacles moving it and relocating the position of the previously cut open parts with frightening accuracy. After around one minute, the deer almost looked like before it had been killed. The wound had been closed by mechanical glue and everything was back where it was supposed to be. All tentacles retreated as the deer jerked once, then got back onto its hooves with shaking movements. Its pistons started moving again, and steam emitted from its nose. The parts where it had been fixed now appeared to be mechanical as well. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. The low humming noise slowly faded into the distance, the rhythmical beeping and the air pressure accompanying it. The deer turned around. And it once again started drinking from the lake of oil, as if nothing had happened. --- Jim Jim trusted his arm forward, using his weapon as an extension of his arm. The tip of the sharp object pierced right through an imaginary enemy close to where he stood. He panted, stopped for a moment to regain some stamina. The air had cooled down over the duration of the last hour or so, a gentle breeze blowing over the metallic mountain he was standing on. A handful of trees and bushes softened the otherwise harsh edges of it, which probably had been stone and boulder a while ago. The sky above was pitch black. It was rather a single colour than an actual horizon ¨C just like back in the first stage. He did prefer black over the bright red from back then though. It was much more relaxing for the eyes. Hendrick had told them they could use the mountain to reorient as well as get some rest. There was a small cave ¨C if you could even call it that ¨C embedded into the mountain, which provided them some protection from the weather as well as whatever else was out there. They had also found a single small tree which wasn¡¯t infected, had chopped it down and brought its wood with them. The tree¡¯s resources were currently warming the inside of the small cave where Anna and Hendrick rested in. Jim repositioned himself, checked his footing, then brought his attention back to his imaginary opponent. The air was less refreshing than you would expect it to be around a forest, a stale note of factory clinging to every object. He had to make sure he would be able to protect the rest of his friends once the time for it came. After all, this was his opportunity to go on a real adventure, and he was not going to waste it. But first he needed to get stronger, get better at fighting. Jim tried to remember the combo, saw the controller inputs in front of his inner eye. It turned out doing stuff like this in real-life was a lot harder than pulling it off in the video-game. A brief step to the side was followed by a large one forward, the cutting edge of the scissor slashing forward in a wide radius. Almost... he had been a little too slow again. Move back, check footing, deep breaths in and out. Refocus. He took a brief step to the side¡­ ¡°Still out here, huh?¡± Anna¡¯s voice broke the silence of nighttime like an owl under the full moon. Except there was no moon. Jim stopped his current attack, lowered his weapon as he saw Anna. She rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, yawned. ¡°Shouldn¡¯t you be resting?¡± A chuckle escaped Anna¡¯s lips. ¡°I could ask you the same thing.¡± ¡°Yea, you¡¯re probably right with that one. I go to sleep soon, I just¡­¡± he lowered his gaze a bit, ¡°couldn¡¯t force myself to just go to sleep after what happened.¡± Anna moved over to a bigger rock close to Jim, its alloyed surface lightly reflecting the warm light which gleamed out of the cave entrance. She sat down, looked out towards the treetops of the jungle-like forest which laid perhaps 20 meters under them. Jim sat down next to her, leaned the scissor against a smaller rock to his right. The dense forest which revealed itself in front of them was mostly dark, but countless little lights illuminated it through the metallic leaves and such. Most likely more of the variously shaped and sized lightbulbs which they had seen earlier today. Without these, even the days would have been very dark in the jungle, since the dense fauna had blocked off the most of the sky down there. ¡°We can¡¯t change the past,¡± Anna said. ¡°Let¡¯s focus on tomorrow.¡± Jim turned his head, saw the distance in her gaze. Several dark red dots were present on her lips ¨C spots where Anna¡¯s mouth had been sewed shut. For a moment, pictures of the box toy from the cave flashed through his head. ¡°Anna,¡± Jim said. ¡°I will make sure no one will hurt you or Hen anymore. I promise.¡± And he meant it. Anna tightened her lips. ¡°I appreciate that. But please don¡¯t try to carry all the burden yourself.¡± Silence once again covered the surrounding area. A soft breeze paved its way through the air and moved some wire-bushes around. Jim felt his brown, messy hair move as well, looked back at Anna. ¡°Ann¡­ after all of this is over¡­¡± ¡°Yea?¡± she turned her head to face Jim, held eye contact. Her blonde hair moved with the breeze, every single line of air flowing in peace with the surroundings. Jim hesitated, thought about saying something. ¡°Lets¡­ uh, all go to a fucking¡­ fast-food restaurant? Get some nice-ass burger, ya know.¡± Anna formed what seemed to be her first real smile in a while. ¡°Bet.¡± Jim reacted with a delayed smile, saw Anna get up from the rock. She put her right palm against the back of her neck, yawned while scratching herself. ¡°We should really get some rest now. Tomorrow won¡¯t be any easier than today if Hen keeps up his marching pace.¡± ¡°Like an army general, lol.¡± ¡°Yea, Right?¡± She laughed. ¡°...You coming?¡± They locked eyes again. Jim used his weapon as a lever to get up. He looked at it for a second, then back at Anna, said, ¡°Yea soon, I just want to try that one move a couple more times¡­ I¡¯m so close to nailing it. I will go to sleep after that, I promise.¡± He had the blunt side of the half-scissors resting on his shoulder now, holding it in his hand with a loose grip. Anna raised a brow, shrugged. ¡°Fine, I¡¯m not your mother after all. Don¡¯t hurt yourself, Mr. hero.¡± Her voice carried that glint of irony which always managed to make Jim smile. She crossed back to the cave entrance, waved over her shoulder without looking back, then disappeared inside. Jim scratched his nose while looking after her, shook his head, then turned around. I should have said something, he thought, Now would have been a great moment for it. But¡­ emotions can¡¯t be in our way right now. Keeping her safe should be my main priority. Scissor still leaned over his shoulder, he stepped close to an edge of the mountain. He managed to keep his breathing calm, looked down the steep slope in front of him. Jim felt the cold air flow through him, the broad ocean of metal beneath him plastered with little lights shining into his very soul. It was like a night sky underneath his feet; a reflection of reality in the mirror of creation. In the distance, a red, wall like structure towered high into the skies. From here it almost looks like it¡¯s not even moving. Jim backed up from the edge, felt his anxiety ease as he moved back to even ground. He brought his attention back to his focus. Deep breaths, fix footing, position weapon. Just like in the game. ¡°Alright,¡± he whispered to himself, ¡°Just one more try¡­¡± --- 11 - Virus Anna Anna got pulled out of her dream by something lightly shaking her shoulder. She immediately darted up into a sitting position, pushed the hand away while doing so. As her view cleared from the fogginess of sleep, she saw a lightly confused Hendrick kneeling in front of her, who had backed off in surprise. ¡°Oh¡­ It¡¯s you.¡± Anna¡¯s expression softened. Jim was standing a few meters behind Hendrick, leaned against cave wall. He was balancing his scissor on the handle, seemed to be in thought about something. Rays of blue light shone into the cave, reflected the metal which plastered the walls. It also made the tip of Jim¡¯s scissor glimmer like it had been bathed in a blue sun. ¡°I think you should see something,¡± Hendrick said. ¡°Both of you.¡± Anna¡¯s sleepiness was like washed away by the sudden urgency of the situation. She got up, swiped some hair out of her vision. ¡°Alright.¡± Jim pushed himself off the wall, caught the handle of his scissor mid-air. Anna wondered how he could look awake after being awake for so long last night. Just for how long had he continued practising? The small fire they had made yesterday had been reduced to nothing but coal and ashes, a faint line of smoke still rising from its middle, where a couple of lightly glowing embers fought for survival. They really had been lucky to have found a piece of real wood in this jungle of steel and metal, a nice relief from the so cold seeming surroundings they were facing. Hendrick waved with his hand and started walking towards the entrance of the cave. Jim and Anna followed him. Outside, they were greeted by a light-blue, single coloured heaven. The trees underneath them reflected the light, emitted a heat that could be felt even up here. The jungle itself had been rather cool, probably because it kept the light and warmth shut out. It made sense that the reflection of the sky caused the area above it to heat up. Weird that there is light even though there is no sun up there... and heat as well. Almost as if god went out of every colour except light-blue. Well, it¡¯s still calming to see the sky for some reason. Even if only temporary. Hendrick guided them around the mountain, along a small hillside towards the north. Anna made sure she would stay as far as possible away from the steep slope to their right, since she really didn¡¯t want to risk falling around 20 meters before getting pierced by the tips of the metal trees below. She noticed Jim keeping even more space from the slope, while Hendrick basically moved right next to it. The border was a lot closer to them now than the night before. She still couldn¡¯t spot how fast it moved, but it had to be rather slow. As she followed Hendrick along the mountain¡¯s side, she asked, ¡°For what is the border good anyways? If they only want to scare people away, then why should it move? Also¡­ why is it so slow?¡± ¡°It¡¯s purpose is not to scare people away, Anna.¡± Hendrick stopped for a moment, nodded towards the barrier. ¡°It¡¯s that slow because you are meant to outrun it. And it¡¯s supposed to pressure living beings towards the factory. That¡¯s also why the fountain shows us where to go.¡± The mentioned fountain was now clearly visible as well, a red line piercing straight into the sky from somewhere hidden behind a mountain rather far away. From their current location, it was not possible to see where it came from, but Hendrick had told her yesterday that if they moved towards it, they would find the factory. And the factory was where they had to go. Jim stopped as well. He looked at the fountain, said: ¡°So we are running towards where they want us to go?¡± ¡°Exactly. The portal is over there... which makes it our only option. Don¡¯t worry, I know how to get around most of the conflict in there.¡± ¡°The most?¡± Anna asked. ¡°Let¡¯s just say it¡¯s not that easy, okay?¡± Hendrick gestured with his right hand, the scissor gesturing with him. ¡°We¡¯ll be fine, I promise.¡± Hendrick sure promised a lot lately. Anna just hoped he would keep it this time. They continued walking around the mountain, soon reaching the other side from where they had originally started. It had been pretty dark yesterday evening as they had ascended the mountain, but now, because of the blue daylight, the scenery was breathtaking. Anna wondered how Hendrick had even managed to find the way up there. His steps had been the same as now: certain and without hesitation. Hendrick stopped once again, signalled the others to take care. He pointed towards a piece of forest which was quite far away, but close enough to more or less see what was going on there. Between the cables and metal; the platings and screws which painted the scenery, a small spot of fresh green presented itself. Healthy trees out of real wood, she thought. So this place really had been a normal forest in the past. Then ¨C coming out from between the trees ¨C a flying¡­ thing ascended. It was a machine judged by appearance, but what she had seen yesterday made her hesitant if there might be something organic underneath. The distance made it hard to guess its size, dozens of tentacles hanging off the lower half of its spherical shaped body. It was more like a giant ball formed out of wire and steel, not something crafted with much care for its looks. It flew higher as if it tried to scan the area surrounding it, then spread its tentacle like tubes away from its body. It looked a little like an upside down hedgehog now, just a giant metallic one with tentacles instead of spikes. The tentacles started to shiver in unison. ¡°It found a spot which is not yet contaminated,¡± Hendrick whispered. ¡°It will now proceed to infect it.¡± A cloud of grey smoke emitted from the tips of the being¡¯s tentacles, the creature slowly rotating horizontally while hovering over the treetops. The smoke soon covered the entire green area. ¡°I called it a virus for a reason. Like I stated earlier¡­ it only covers the outer layer, slowly taking control over the organism, turning it into a vessel with an armor of machinery around it.¡± The creature finished and started flying away, soon being out of sight again. The cloud of smoke started to dissolve. There was no green left in the trees, and they had joined the dense ocean of metal, almost as if they had been part of it for decades. Anna swallowed, then whispered, ¡°So if the spreaders catch us, then¡­¡± A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°¡­ then we will end up like these trees, or, more accurately, like that deer from yesterday,¡± Hendrick completed. ¡°We need to keep going now. The barrier is getting closer, so we better hurry.¡± And far in the distance, towering over the rest of the scenery, a massive structure was now visible. A red fountain emitted from it into the sky as it moved and turned, giant gears and mechanisms covering its surface in multiple moving layers. Dozens of chimneys emitted darkened smoke towards the heavens. And they started moving towards it, slowly inching closer towards the heart of the machines. --- Jim It twisted and turned to get free, tried to escape at all costs, but was suspended by a relentless grip. The metallic bunny Hendrick was currently holding down was tied together by its legs, laid a couple of meters away from the huge garage door in the middle of the jungle. The structure seemed to be leading down into the ground to a place out of sight. In front of it, something which closely resembled a control panel could be seen. Jim looked over to another tree which wasn¡¯t too far away, spotted Anna. She was holding her bow ready, prepared to strike. They had been lucky in the last two days, had found another spot of uninfected jungle to gather resources which had turned out as a big plus. Jim slowly got the feeling that it wasn¡¯t as big of a coincidence as Hendrick had pointed it out to be. He balanced his wooden shield in his hand, held it close to his chest in case he needed to block unexpectedly. Hendrick brought down his blade, sliced through a spot between moving technical parts as the helpless creature stopped twitching. Blood started pouring out between the gaps of the now unmoving creature. Hendrick didn¡¯t even tense a muscle. Hendrick got up and backed off. He hid next to the garage, got something off his back. It was one of two wooden spears with a sharp stone as a tip. The other one was still attached to his back with a rope. He put his scissor down, nodded towards the others. The three of them turned silent, waiting. One minute passed, then another. With the sound of a muffled motor, the door of the garage turned open. Out of it, a spreader emerged, floating around half a metre above the ground. It made its disgusting sounds, moved closer to the rabbit. It then expanded a single tentacle, made itself ready to revive the rabbit. Okay, he thought. Now or never. It didn¡¯t even see Hendrick coming as he leapt at it from behind, rammed the entire length of the spear inside of its round body. ¡°NOW!¡± he shouted. Jim abandoned his cover, started sprinting towards the being, which was now no longer floating. He saw an arrow swish through the air, embedding itself into the creatures¡¯ side. The spreader started leaking a red liquid. A tentacle shot out in his direction. He held his shield up, redirecting the tentacle¡¯s movement and dodging to the side. He brought his scissor down with a swift slash, cut through the tentacle as it squirmed for a moment after being separated from the main body before curling up to die. Another arrow hit the spreader, then another. Anna was doing a great job confusing it, staying rather far away and shooting from different angles. Suddenly, the spreader moved all its tentacles outwards. ¡°AWAY!¡± Hendrick shouted. Jim backed off just in time to dodge the cloud of smoke the spreader emitted. The spreader disappeared into the cloud of smoke for a moment. The scene fell silent. Jim made himself ready. So far, so good, he thought. It should take it a moment until it can launch an attack like that again. As the smoke cleared and he dashed towards the center, he threw away his shield and held his half-scissors with both hands. He would need all of his strength for this strike. His breath was calm. He positioned his weapon like he had practised and he found the right footing. But as the clouds parted more, and the spreader got visible again, it had already started to float again. And as Jim realized that it had already regenerated its wounds, it was already too late to back out. Between the parting clouds, a single tentacle was pointing towards him. Jim held his arms up in front of his face in search of cover, but it was too late. The smoke started shooting out of the tentacle directly towards him. Right before the burst of smoke hit him, he was pushed out of the way. He fell down to the ground, realized he hadn¡¯t been hit by the attack. Anna was standing there with outstretched hands, unmoving as the small cloud of smoke disappeared. She backed off as small spots of metallic particles started growing on her hands and upper arms. The spreader didn¡¯t seem like it planned on continuing its attack. It made ready to lift off, started ascending. Then, Jim saw Hendrick jump into his field of view, spear gripped with both hands as he forced it into the spreader¡¯s side mid-air. It dropped out of the sky as its tentacles curled up, and it stopped moving. Panic. ¡°Anna, are you okay?¡± Jim felt the shivering in his voice as he got up as fast as he could. ¡°Don¡¯t touch her! And don¡¯t touch anything with the metal spots!¡± Hendrick shouted, started running towards Anna. Anna had fallen to her knees, stared at her arms as the infection spread slowly. ¡°I-It hurts¡­ make it stop, please.¡± Jim hesitated. His heart started pounding like crazy. He remembered the cave, the toys, the Doll-Maker. His head started spinning, turning, clanking like the steam engines on the metallic deer. He remembered the thick layer of metal coating the tree, making it unable to breathe but still remain alive. He remembered the insides of the deer, the rubber skin and brass cables which had pulled themselves through its insides. ¡°Hendrick, do something¡­ please.¡± Anna pleaded out, the skin reshaping and hardening on her arms. ¡°No, just don¡¯t touch anything. It will spread faster if you do,¡± Hendrick responded, now sitting down next to Anna. This is my fault, he thought. I did that... I need to stop it. Jim looked at his hand, saw it shake with the scissor still gripped tightly. He looked at Anna, saw the infection spread up to her elbows as her screams for help increased in volume. He looked back at the blade, the cries in the background now being drowned out by the pounding of his heart. He couldn¡¯t lose her like that. No, not again. He had already failed to protect Jack, and he had made a promise to Anna yesterday that he would keep her safe, to keep the pain away from her. It couldn¡¯t end like this, not this time. It wouldn¡¯t end like this. I can stop it before it¡¯s too late. He moved closer to Anna. You saved me¡­ now I need to save you. He saw the tears streaming down her face as she held out her arms while sobbing. This is my fault... And he raised his weapon with both hands heavily shaking. ...and that¡¯s why... They made eye contact for the glimpse of a second. ...I can¡¯t let you die here. And he swung downwards. --- 12 - Downwards Hendrick A loud clanking hissed through the air as metal hit metal, then noise faded to silence. The slight buzzing of nearby lightbulbs was the only thing audible for a moment. Hendrick had used his half-scissors to block Jim¡¯s strike, the two blades now leveraging against each other. Hendrick felt Jim¡¯s force disappear. Anna was no longer weeping, stared upward to the crossed blades. The infection in her arms had stopped spreading. Jim stumbled backwards, dropped his weapon. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ so sorry.¡± Anna¡¯s eyes were flat orbs, but their depth started to return. She looked back at her hands as she started to move them around slightly. Her movements were slow and abrupt. ¡°Am I... safe?¡± she asked. ¡°You only got hit by the smoke briefly. That¡¯s not enough to infect your whole body... at least not for now.¡± Hendrick grabbed Anna¡¯s hands, examined them closer. Their appearance had changed drastically, and they now looked like out of some cheap science-fiction movie. He turned to face Anna, asked, ¡°How do you feel? Are you able to keep going?¡± ¡°You must be joking, right? There is no way she w-¡± ¡°No, I am fine,¡± Anna interrupted. ¡°It still hurts a lot, but I can handle it.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± Hendrick asked. ¡°Yes.¡± She looked down at her arms, said, ¡°These are the consequences of my actions. I can deal with it.¡± Jim swallowed, moved back closer to Anna. ¡°But...¡± He looked at her arms. ¡°You saved me, now I saved you. We lost Jack because of me getting caught, so¡­¡± she stopped, swallowed, ¡°...I am going to make up for it by being useful to the group from now on.¡± ¡°Let me check¡­¡± Hendrick put his hand on Anna¡¯s arms, tested how severe the injuries were. ¡°Anna,¡± he said. ¡°If you wouldn¡¯t have acted as fast as you did, Jim would have ended up like that cyborg deer. He would have lost any control over himself, and since the price was only your arms, it is more than worth it. You also did the right thing, so don¡¯t be too hard on yourself please.¡± He knew that keeping the group together was essential now. Everything had somehow worked like planned so far, and he wanted it to stay that way. He once again had gotten a gentle reminder that every wrong step could cause fatal consequences. Everything could be ruined at every given moment. The infection had managed to go rather far up, had stopped not too far away from Anna¡¯s shoulders, but it wasn¡¯t enough for the infection to take over her movement. ¡°And like I said earlier, Jim,¡± Hendrick added, ¡°if it would have been a serious infection¡­ you would have saved her life with your reaction.¡± Jim seemed like he wanted to say something, but he remained silent. He looked down to where he had dropped his weapon, nodded. Hendrick hoped that the words he said calmed Jim down a little. He had changed since they entered the first stage. It was quite impressive how much the ball of joy had matured over the course of the last few days, his whole behaviour more serious and calm than before. He manages to surprise me every single time, he thought. Anna flinched away a little as Hendrick touched the area where the metal and her healthy skin met. The skin close to the metal was reddened as well as rather hard. His eyes met an expression of suppressed discomfort. ¡°You will be safe. It¡¯s nothing fatal or too dangerous,¡± he said. ¡°Hendrick¡­ I need to apologize,¡± Jim said. His voice sounded stern but honest as he continued, ¡°I shouldn¡¯t have said what I said back then after¡­ you know.¡± Hendrick turned, saw Jim¡¯s poor attempt to not look like he was close to tearing up. ¡°Let¡¯s forget about that now. We need to keep going. For Jack.¡± The other two nodded. Hendrick was now certain that his words had calmed the situation down. They would all need to be as focused as possible for what was awaiting them. But for now, there had to be a moment of joy. All three of them looked at Anna¡¯s arms. They was a moment of silence. ¡°What¡¯s the diagnosis, doctor Hendrick?¡± Jim said in an overly dramatic voice. ¡°It will probably still hurt for a while,¡± Hendrick said while using an unusually deep voice, ¡°but then it should be okay. Knowing how weak her arms were before, it could almost be counted as an upgrade.¡± ¡°Like Iron-Man?¡± Anna asked. ¡°Rather, Iron-Maiden.¡± They laughed. ¡°Good one, Hen¡± Jim said. --- Hendrick opened up the remains of the spreader with his scissor, felt like opening an oversized can. A can which did bleed and had organs inside of it, even though a heavily damaged heart and a brain were the only organs to be found. His first spear had missed both of the organs barely¡­ which had been intentional of course. The second spear had then caused fatal damage and killed the thing. Hendrick reached inside of the mess of wire and blood, pulled out a small device, tossed it to Jim. This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Catch. That¡¯s its tracking device. If it stops moving for too long, the factory will know. It also is our VIP backstage-pass.¡± Hendrick kept digging around in the red mess, searched for something as Jim answered, ¡°So we just show it and they let us in?¡± ¡°Nah¡­¡± Hendrick stated while tossing pieces of brain matter aside. ¡°We can enter through that garage door over there.¡± The brain inside of the creature was rather small, like the one of a rabbit or fox. ¡°Won¡¯t there be more of these things?¡± Anna asked. ¡°I don¡¯t really plan on getting more upgrades for now, to be honest.¡± ¡°Nah again. The tunnel behind the gate will lead us inside the factory. There¡¯s only one spreader assigned to every tunnel, so we¡¯re fine.¡± An old engine could be heard. Hendrick looked up to see Jim standing in front of the opened garage-door while holding the tracker. ¡°Yup, works.¡± Hendrick pulled aside another piece of metal, uncovered what he was searching for. A grin manifested on his face. ¡°What are you searching for, Hen? The border is already kinda close. Let that trash-can rust there.¡± ¡°Not yet, Ann. We still have some preparations to do,¡± Hendrick said, gestured with bloody hands while talking. ¡°Jim¡­ get up here and help me real quick. I need to cut something out of there.¡± Jim moved towards him, climbed up the metal covered beast without asking any questions. He looked inside of its opened body, tilted his head. ¡°Is that what I think it is, Hen?¡± ¡°Most likely.¡± ¡°You think this is a good idea? I¡¯m not sure if we should get too close to that thing...¡± ¡°Can you help me tie it to my back?¡± Hendrick asked. Jim blinked once. Slowly. ¡°...You want to... what?¡± Anna stood close to the gate, moved around her freshly upgraded fingers one after the other. She had her signature ¡®What the fuck are you guys doing over there?¡¯ look on her face. He lifted up a tube, checked if there were any holes inside of it. There appeared to be none. ¡°Yea, I¡¯m serious.¡± Jim scratched his messy hair, chuckled. ¡°Isn¡¯t this... you know... a bad idea? And kinda dangerous as well?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know¡­ maybe?¡± There was a moment of silence between the two of them. Then they both started smiling at each other. --- Anna Footsteps echoed through the long, grim tunnel¡­ if you could even call it a tunnel. Back at the beginning ¨C shortly after they had entered the door in the jungle ¨C it had still pretty much looked like one. More or less similar to how the tunnel system had looked like back at the first stage, just a little more metallic. The ground hadn¡¯t been entirely out of metal, but there were chunks and bits here and there. Cables had been rather rare close to the entrance, crossing the path like they had lost their way. But besides that, nothing out of the ordinary. Around what she estimated to be 60 minutes later, there wasn¡¯t a single grain of dirt left. The tunnel¡¯s walls now were completely covered in metallic shards and plates, levers, parts of engines and so on. Some of them even moved around as if they were part of one massive structure. But compared to all the earlier mentioned things, there was one that stood out in its quantity: cables. There were thinner ones too, but the most were huge. Still, somehow the whole mess of a tunnel was sorted in a way which made it straight and open enough for a spreader to fly through. Damn, she thought. An electrician would faint immediately if he would see this. Even without any source of light it would never get fully dark down here for some reason, which reminded her of the first stage as well. These were some odd familiarities... the starless, one coloured sky; the light without source, and so on. All these weird things that did not quite make sense yet remained consistent for some reason. Anna decided to not question too many things around here anymore, yet she wanted answers to at least some of her questions. In the rare case that there was a light source, it was a lightbulb randomly growing out of a cable, almost as if to test if it was still working. Another oddity was the lack of noise. You would expect a place like this to make all sorts of loud sounds, but it was almost silent. Anna could hear her footsteps as she walked. ¡°Hey Hen,¡± Jim finally asked, breaking the silence which had swept over them for a while now. ¡°Yea?¡± ¡°If this giant factory thing keeps working all the time, where does it get its electricity? Where do these cables even come from? I mean, they probably use the metal from the virus to construct stuff¡­ but I never seen a single windmill or solar-panel or whatever.¡± Hendrick, who was currently carrying a box shaped object on his back, stopped moving. ¡°Give me a second.¡± He moved over to one of the cables, pulled his scissor out of the fixture he had built for it, and stabbed it inside one of the cables. Not very deep, just enough to leave a scratch. ¡°Now watch,¡± he said. Anna and Jim gathered around the cable, looked at it as it started to generate material outwards. It healed itself, but then expanded outwards as a small cable started growing until it was able to attach to a different cable close by. ¡°Wait¡­¡± Anna said. ¡°I think I get it. They behave like mechanical roots. These aren¡¯t really cables, are they?¡± Hendrick got up, put his scissor back, said, ¡°Yes and no. They are cables and they are the roots of the trees.¡± He pointed alongside a cable, continued, ¡°The virus turns everything metallic, and the roots of the trees and plants connect to a giant underground system. And this system leads to the centre of it all.¡± Jim gasped. ¡°So that¡¯s why they infect the forest. They don¡¯t need the material, they take over the plants itself.¡± Hendrick nodded. ¡°The outer layer is infected until the inner parts can be easily commanded. It then harvests its Energy without killing it. As you can see, it¡¯s all densely connected with each other.¡± ¡°Like a virus¡­¡± Jim said. Hendrick nodded. ¡°And what about the animals?¡± Anna asked. ¡°I mean, they aren¡¯t connected to anything, so they can¡¯t be used for Energy, right? They also use the barrier to keep them close¡­ why?¡± ¡°Energy isn¡¯t the main reason the factory exists, Ann. The electricity is only keeping the machines running. No¡­ that¡¯s not its main focus. They use something way more valuable from living organisms. Something plants don¡¯t have. That¡¯s why they capture them. It¡¯s to have control over them, to keep that something safe in case they need more of it in the future.¡± ¡°Something¡­ something what?¡± Jim asked. ¡°You just need to know that what we saw back in stage one is nothing compared to what is down there. You need to see it with your own eyes to believe it, since it¡¯s nothing you can easily explain with words.¡± ¡°Ah, alright, that¡¯s just slightly unsettling.¡± Jim said. ¡°Can we talk about something less disturbing for once, please? We¡¯ll sure have lots of unsettling stuff to deal with once we arrive down there.¡± Anna looked down at her arms, which were still hurting like hell. She slowly started to get used to moving her fingers again. The only thing she had problems with were the finer, more accurate movements. She wasn¡¯t sure if she could properly aim her bow like this, but if she wouldn¡¯t be able to put her years¡¯ long experience to use, she figured that she would be a little pissed. Her arms felt heavy. It was as if someone had put a thick layer of mud on her skin and had let it dry. There also was a light vibrating sometimes, as if something was moving under her skin. Anna looked back at the cable that had just grown out of the bigger cable, asked, ¡°Wait¡­ wouldn¡¯t that mean that my arms can do that kind of thing as well?¡± Hendrick shrugged. ¡°Perhaps¡­ Maybe if you get enough electricity through your body, but let¡¯s not try that.¡± Jim looked at Anna¡¯s arms, tilted his head. ¡°Please don¡¯t swing around on cables attached to other cables. Iron-Maiden is already one superhero rip-off too many for this adventure.¡± ¡°Real funny, Jim,¡± Anna said while trying her best to not giggle. His jokes sure were dumb, but for some reason they were kind of cute from time to time. Especially since they had gotten increasingly rare in the last couple of days. The eased up tension was a welcomed change of pace, but she felt like it wouldn¡¯t last for very long. Not as long as they were here. ¡°We should move now. The device still tracks us, so we shouldn¡¯t be standing around at a place for too long,¡± Hendrick said. ¡°As long as we stick to my plan, we should get in while avoiding most problems.¡± ¡°Wait, you used that kind of wording earlier. Most problems? What¡¯s with the rest of the problems?¡± Jim asked. ¡°And now that I think about it¡­ isn¡¯t using this tunnel kind of like cheating? I mean¡­ aren¡¯t we supposed to enter at the top of the factory?¡± ¡°We deal with the problems once they arrive.¡± Hendrick said. ¡°Also, it¡¯s not cheating¡­ we are just making it a little easier by using the chances given to us. The tunnel leads us down, and that¡¯s where we want to go.¡± ¡°Now that you say it, Hen... where exactly do we want to go?¡± Anna asked. ¡°To the deepest part of the factory,¡± Hendrick said. ¡°It¡¯s the place where they bring the living beings to,¡± ¡°and the place where the factory originally started growing from.¡± --- 13 - Welcome to the Machine Jim Jim tried to breathe quietly, kept himself hidden next to his two allies. They were currently hiding behind a larger cable, which was right in front of a round opening: the end of the tunnel. The temperature had risen by a good bit since they had entered the tunnel, and something about the air here seemed to be even more dull, or plain even, than out in the dense metallic fauna of the jungle. The sweat on his forehead wasn¡¯t from the heat, though. Anna held her bow readied, waited for the right moment to strike. A rather small heart ¨C which Hendrick had cut out of the spreader they had fought earlier ¨C was fixated on the arrow Anna was currently preparing to shoot. She had one of Hendrick¡¯s spears on her back as a melee weapon, just in case they needed it later on. Hendrick couldn¡¯t carry it anymore anyways; was more than busy carrying the box on his back around. Hopefully this works, he thought. I don¡¯t want to find out what happens once these things catch us trespassing. In front of them, behind the round opening, a giant funnel shaped room presented itself. Spreaders were floating around like honeybees, going in and out of dozens of round holes which appeared to be arranged evenly spaced close to the ceiling of the room. Jim estimated them to be around 50 meters apart from each other, the room being too large to guess its size. I just hope that Hen is right and they really just use their own assigned tunnel, he thought. Jim looked over at Anna¡¯s arms, saw her struggle to take aim. Fighting one of them was worse enough¡­ From what Hendrick had explained earlier, every single one of these holes led to another tunnel, like the one they had just walked through. Only the upper meters of the room weren¡¯t slope shaped and instead consisted of a vertical metal wall. At about the same height as the tunnel entrances along the wall, there was an around 2 meter wide metal grid floor. See through¡­ because of course it had to be see through. Like everything here, it seemed like it hadn¡¯t been built and rather grown out of the wall, which itself seemed to be shaped out of metal parts and leftovers. Even the sloped surfaces weren¡¯t smooth, but rather smaller metallic pieces melt together in rough fashion. Anna followed the movement of a rather close spreader, which carried something with his tentacles. It was still alive, weak mechanical roaring getting drowned out by the sound of the floating terrors. The spreader made its way closer to the middle of the room, then dropped the creature, which hit the steep slope surface below with a loud crank. It then slid downwards until it disappeared inside of the hole at the bottom of the room. Its screams decreased in volume, then disappeared completely. Anna¡¯s bow moved with the being, her mechanical hands shivering slightly. It then flew closer to them, almost in their direction. Did it spot something? Jim saw Anna¡¯s hand shake more. ¡°Not this one,¡± Hendrick whispered. Anna stopped shaking as the spreader flew closer before leaving through its assigned hole around 50 meters to their right. Anna sighed, put down her aim. ¡°So this is what you call most of the problems, huh? How are we even supposed to get to the elevator like this? It¡¯s like a fucking nest of them.¡± Even though Anna was whispering, her voice appeared to be rather loud. ¡°It¡¯s the easiest way, believe me. If you don¡¯t want to end like the animal that just got dropped, just do what I say.¡± ¡°Might as well be less painful than this shit,¡± Anna said, rolled her eyes. ¡°Pff¡­ Anyways. Which one is it then?¡± ¡°You see that one back there?¡± Hendrick pointed towards another spreader, which had just entered the room. He nodded. ¡°Once it moved far enough.¡± Anna took aim once again, this time without the shaking. Jim had used the last few moments to keep his breathing quiet. He needed to stay focused now, making sure everything worked according to plan. He couldn¡¯t allow himself to make any more rash decisions, had to keep them safe. His head went through the steps once again: shoot down problematic spreader¡­ Sneak alongside the wall as fast as possible while the others are confused¡­ get to the¨C An arrow hissed through the air as Jim got ripped out of his thoughts. The others had already gotten out of the hiding place, had positioned themselves, ready to move. The arrow flew close to the spreader, but missed by half a meter and embedded itself inside of the wall behind the spreader with a loud thock. ¡°Fuck,¡± she whispered. ¡°My hands¡­ can¡¯t aim.¡± Hendrick jumped over the cable and onto the metallic grid floor. He threw the tracking device back into the tunnel, said, ¡°Now. We won¡¯t get a second chance.¡± The nearby spreaders appeared to have noticed the loud sound, moved towards the arrow to examine it. Anna followed Hendrick onto the grid, looked at Jim. ¡°Come on, dude.¡± Jim hesitated, then followed. Why did it have to be a grid? He did not look down, followed the others alongside the wall. The spreaders pulled the arrow out, looked at the heart which had been attached to it. They somehow looked sad. Hen was right. It really is their highest priority, he thought. These things really are dumb as shit. Fast, light steps moved through the room as they kept pushing forward. They couldn¡¯t run fast because of the weight Hendrick was carrying on his back, but they still moved as fast as possible. Jim held his shield and half-scissor ready, kept his attention to everything which could be a potential danger. Then, out of a tunnel they were about to pass by, a spreader emerged. It turned towards them, lifted a single tentacle. Hendrick stood right in front of the thing as it made itself ready to attack. But then, right before it could fire its smoke, an arrow pierced the tentacle, and the smoke was misdirected. Jim leaped forward, cut off the tentacle before the spreader could react to the sudden attack. It let out a metallic screech, shivered and shook itself before Anna impaled its body with her spear. ¡°Fuck yea. Die trash-can,¡± she said in the most aggressive whispering voice Jim had ever heard. He caught himself blushing, shook his head to restore his focus. He turned his head, got met with another problem. Some spreaders had heard the screeching and were now approaching rapidly, their screeches alarming more and more of their kind. They were still rather far away, but that wouldn¡¯t stay like that for long. Suddenly, Jim¡¯s fear of heights wasn¡¯t as big of a problem anymore. ¡°Uh¡­ guys?¡± ¡°Screw the plan,¡± Hendrick shouted. ¡°Run!¡± Unauthorized usage: this tale is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. --- Anna The spreaders inched closer and closer as they pressed forward as fast as they could, a chorus of low humming behind them increasing in volume more and more. Anna was in the lead, turned around for just a moment to see Hendrick falling behind. Of course he was the slowest. He carried that box thing on his back after all, as well as some extra weight. Hopefully this thing won¡¯t get us into more trouble than it gets us out of¡­ she thought. Anna stopped running, turned around and aimed with her bow. She recalled the lessons from her archery club, moved as smoothly as her metal arms allowed her to. She pulled with her right arm, index finger now close to the crease of her lips, middle and ring finger below the side of the chin. She held her breath low, let the string slide out of her fingers as the arrow whipped through the air at high speed. It almost hit a spreader, which floated to the side to dodge, but hit another spreader in the process. A second later, half a dozen spreaders were losing their balance and falling towards the sloped surface beneath. Nailed it! she thought. These things sure aren¡¯t the brightest. Jim, who was guarding Hendrick, shot Anna a reassuring nod. She replied with a smile. It was impressive that Jim was now able to run around here so freely. Usually, he got balance problems as soon as someone talked about high places. Anna turned around, continued running. That was the last arrow I can waste. I¡¯m going to need the last one for later. They were now almost at their destination, its shape now clearly visible. It seemed to be a rather regular elevator which was built into the room¡¯s outer wall. A little out-of-place looking, but besides that, more or less what you would expect to find in a shopping center. Oh¡­ the things she would give to be in a shopping center right now and not this oversized dump... She reached the elevator door. Next to the elevator, a splash of reddish colour caught her eye. ¡°The tracking device!¡± she shouted while out of breath. ¡°It is in the tunnel as decoy.¡± Hendrick shouted, his voice more flat than usual. ¡°Use your hands!¡± Hendrick was around 50 meters behind Anna; Jim was running towards her. She looked at her hands, then at the scanner. Hendrick had stopped, was now turned towards the approaching swarm of spreaders. She clenched her teeth, pressed both palms against the fleshy fixture which grew out of the metal next to the elevator door. It twitched and moved, stuck to her hand. Anna turned her head, saw Jim catch up to her. Hendrick was now around 40 meters away, walking backwards while still facing the spreaders, which had almost caught up to him. He held a tube in his hands which was attached to the box onto his back. ¡°Jim, what is he doing?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know. Just open the door.¡± Hendrick stood there, the spreaders now almost close enough as they lifted their tentacles ready for attack. Hendrick stopped walking. And a burst of grey smoke shot out of the box, piercing forward as it engulfed the army of spreaders. And they fell out of the sky, tumbling down the slope one by one. The elevator door opened, made a calming ¡®ding¡¯ sound. A small screen above it displayed the words ¡®DNA recognized. Access granted¡¯. The red mass let go of Anna¡¯s hands, and she hurried inside of the elevator. Jim followed. On the inside were dozens of various buttons, arranged in a vertical line with symbols of unknown language. ¡°How far do we need to go down?¡± Jim asked. Anna hovered her fingers in front of the buttons, then pressed the one at the very bottom. The door begun to close, but Hendrick wasn¡¯t there. ¡°Hen! Fast!¡± Anna peaked outside, saw Hendrick still fending off the spreaders with his smoke while walking backwards. He was now only 10 meters away from the door. Jim jammed his shield between the two sides of the closing door, stopped it as pressure begun to build up Hendrick turned around, started running. The spreaders one by one ascended from below, continued their attack. The wooden shield made uncomfortable cracking noises. The spreaders started shooting their smoke towards Hendrick. And as Hendrick jumped towards the elevator door, the shield broke and the door threw itself shut. Hendrick had made it in just in time. Then, a split second after the door had closed: Baaam! Something had smashed against the elevator door, leaving a huge dent in the metal. But right before whatever had caused the dent could continue, the elevator started moving downwards. They were safe¡­ at least for now. Hendrick, who had thrown Jim off balance with his heroic jump, now got up and held his forehead. Jim sat up, his hair even more messy than before, said, ¡°I-Is everyone safe?¡± ¡°Yea,¡± Hendrick said, now rubbing his forehead as if to wish the pain away. ¡°I think I just had a panic attack, but besides that I¡¯m good,¡± Anna said, helped Jim get up. Jim got back onto his feet, blew some hair out of his face. ¡°That was... fucking awesome. Good job team. I think Jack would have been proud of us.¡± Silence. ¡°So that was what you meant with ¡®we can get rid of most problems¡¯.¡± Anna said. ¡°Am I right, Hendrick?¡± Hendrick had put down the box, seemed pretty calm for what had just happened. ¡°Yea¡­ more or less. We should be safe for a bit now. The elevator takes a good while to travel all the way down.¡± She took a look around. The button on the elevator she had pressed earlier now glowed in a threatening blue. She wouldn¡¯t be surprised if the symbol meant something like ¡®descent to hell¡¯ in trash-can language. A single light embedded into the ceiling of the elevator cast a yellow filter onto the rest of the room. Wooden splinters were spread across the floor. ¡°Yea¡­ there goes our only defense, I suppose,¡± she said, leaned against a wall. It was surprising that this elevator looked normal, and wasn¡¯t weirdly smacked together from random mechanical crap like the rest of this place. She looked at the palm of her hand. There was no trace of the scanner. ¡®DNA recognized¡­¡¯ she thought. What exactly did that mean? Hendrick sat down, leaned against the wall as well. Jim did the same, his legs crossed as he rolled his head over towards Hendrick. ¡°So, what¡¯s next ¡®hacker-man-I-cheat-myself-through-the-giant-metal-maze¡¯ guy?¡± ¡°Well¡­ remember that one time we found out you are the fastest runner of our group?¡± ¡°Uhm¡­ yea?¡± Jim scratched his head, one eyebrow slightly raised. ¡°Why should that be from importance here?¡± Anna asked. Hendrick smiled. ¡°Glad you asked.¡± --- 14 - Lowest Floor Hendrick Hendrick pushed forward, leading his two companions through the massive mess of black conveyor belts and red flesh. They ducked behind another huge machine, which towered tall above the crimson ground while steaming and whirring at full work. ¡°We¡¯re almost there. Once I give the signal, Jim starts the diversion.¡± Hendrick lurked around a corner, looked out for any openings to proceed. Right around the corner were multiple creatures. They were standing in front of the conveyor belts and worked with tools which they had instead of hands. Metallic creatures with mostly humanoid shape cut open mechanical animals and other creatures which were brought by the assembly lines. Some cut out organs and placed them on different production lines, sorting everything with care; others gathered blood and led it through a pipe to somewhere else. One of the creatures, which was around their size, turned off their belt and moved towards them. It carried a mesh of red mass, probably on the way to bring it to its destination. Between its chest and stomach, there was a large, horizontal cut, which gave a small insight of what laid inside. It didn¡¯t seem to mind it in any way. It hadn¡¯t even taken the flash of an eye until the creature had been silenced, pierced through the heart as it had moved around the corner. Hendrick had known how to strike: inside of the cut, piercing its heart. It was the only part besides the brain they couldn¡¯t repair. Hendrick laid the humanoid machine on the ground face down. Made sure the others wouldn¡¯t get a closer look at its face. The butterfly seems to be in my favour, he thought. Hendrick looked at Jim, nodded towards a net of conveyor belts not too far away. Jim nodded back, started hurrying towards it. He sneaked off in a way he could stay hidden from the looks of the machines, kept his posture low as he made his way out of sight. He turned to face Anna, said with a quiet voice, ¡°Alright. You know what to do. I''m counting on you.¡± ¡°We have one shot,¡± she said. ¡°I will make sure it counts.¡± She peaked around the corner, asked, ¡°What are they even doing? Are they sorting out parts?¡± ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°How is a rabbit brain big enough for them to do tasks like that? It seems like they do complicated cuts and stuff¡­¡± Hendrick looked at his scissor, then back at Anna, ¡°It¡¯s not.¡± ¡°I see.¡± There was a hint of suppressed emotion in Anna¡¯s body language. He found himself repeating the steps inside of his head once again. Every step, every move was set up for perfection, for success. He couldn¡¯t be stopped. Not anymore. He was different. Something much greater. Perfect. ¡°If all goes well,¡± he said. ¡°Then this will be over soon.¡± ¡°Hope so¡­ this place starts freaking me out.¡± Their conversation got interrupted by a loud bang accompanied by a siren whirring. A red light started rapidly flashing over an area not too far away. ¡°He really did it.¡± A smile grew on Anna¡¯s face. It was almost a little sad how obvious it was, even though she was so solicitous to hide her thoughts. ¡°Didn¡¯t expect less from our Berserker,¡± Hendrick said. --- Jim Jim took another turn, barely dodged the grasp of one of the walking machines. He ducked under a tube, which was suspended at around the height of his head, sprinted forward with scissor in hand. His intent was clear. The red ground felt soft beneath his feet, as if it absorbed the pressure he put against it. He only needed to keep running, to escape for long enough to buy some time for Hen and Anna to reach the heart. It was almost like back at home, playing tag with the others. He had always been the number one at it, being able to turn and twist out of situations where others would expect to get caught. He somehow always dodged it all. It was rare for him to get caught even once while they played. The others hated him for it, but were impressed at the same time. Jim felt his confidence raise a little. He turned to the left, almost ran into something. A mechanical deer, standing on its hind legs, stared him down, its upper two hoofs replaced by tools for dissecting. It bellowed before getting silenced by Jim piercing its heart. Jim pulled the weapon out of the large cut in the creature¡¯s body, continued running as he saw a group of creatures approaching from behind. More alarms were now beeping and emitting red light, leading more and more attention towards him. And then, after another turn to the right: a dead end. He was standing inside of a narrow path between two machines, creatures in front and behind him having him locked in as their target. Their eyes gloomed at him in a narrow angle. He had become the prey. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Jim looked upwards, saw the massive scale of the crimson coloured room. Fleshy pillars towered high, so high the ceiling was nowhere to be seen. Conveyor belts formed a labyrinth of black lines in the skies, transporting enormous amounts of creatures and their remains around. The only situation where he couldn¡¯t run away had occurred: he had been baited into a corner. But this time it wasn¡¯t a game between children. He couldn¡¯t just laugh and giggle as he was caught. ¡°How annoying. I¡¯ve always said that this strategy is unfair.¡± The grip around his weapon tightened. He hesitated. Maybe I could do it, he thought. No... I would get myself into danger. I need to stay safe so I can keep her safe. The creatures approached, got closer as he noticed something to his right. There was a small hole shaped spot in one of the machines, big enough to use it as a stepping stone. Then, a bit higher, a piece of metal which he could climb onto. He looked upwards, saw the massive scale of the machine in front of him. ¡°For fuck¡¯s sake¡­again?¡± He swallowed. ¡°Fine¡­ who cares about heights anyways?¡± And he started climbing. --- Anna The diversion worked. A lot of the motion in the endless seeming halls of flesh and machines now stood still, the workers trying to find a solution to the problem. Little did they know that all of this was just a way of distracting them, to lead them away from the real problem. Stupid trash cans. Anna and Hendrick had spent the last couple of minutes sabotaging more machines, causing more malfunction and more production lines to stop. They had stayed undetected, silently increasing the havoc more and more as time went on. Hendrick had used his scissor to take care of the creatures which had seen them, keeping them safe for now. They were now getting close to their destination: the center. It the middle of the room, not too far away from their current location, a hole of massive scale embedded itself deep into the ground. There was no technology to be seen close to it, not even a piece of metal fixed into the red mass it was made out of. A rather quiet thumping was audible, but Anna wasn¡¯t sure if it was just her heartbeat or something else. It somehow felt like it was both inside and outside of her at the same time. She wanted to ask Hendrick about it, but refrained from doing so. We don¡¯t have time for this now, she thought. And so they pressed forward towards the core of the machine, ready to put it to a halt for all eternity. Anna double checked if her arrow was still there. It was, of course. To put everything on one single shot from her¡­ Their friends really had a screw lose or two. But that was the kind of thing she loved about them. This would be her moment; her time to shine. And between the flesh and gore, between the scrap and metal, she would be the hero of this stage. It wouldn¡¯t be perfect, but that would be okay. And she would finally leave her past behind. --- Jim Jim leaped across a tiny gap and gripped a metal lever with both hands, pulled himself upward towards another ledge. He breathed out, wiped some sweat off his forehead. He took a look down, swallowed. He was now around 10 meters above the ground. A growing group of metallic creatures stood around the machine he was currently climbing onto, their empty stares fixed on him. Some of them tried to climb up the machine, but most fell off quite fast. The few that actually managed to climb were fast though, so he couldn¡¯t allow himself to slow down by any means. Sadly, he had been forced to let go of his left shoe as a creature had gotten too close, had grabbed his foot. It had been luck that he didn¡¯t fall off together with the creature back then and there. Another last effort, some fast but careful movements. He had reached the top of the machine. He didn¡¯t know where Anna and Hen were right now, but he sure hoped they were close to the center, since his pursuers were inching closer at a frightening speed. He looked around, searched for an alternative route which wouldn¡¯t cause him to fall to his certain death. The view up here was stunning, to say the least. Even up here, high above the ground, machines could be seen towering high, connecting to uncountable production lines, all of them forming a dense network of production which centred towards one location: the hole in the middle. The place where he needed to go. Over the hole, something appeared to be floating. He couldn¡¯t quite make out what it was from here, but it wasn¡¯t connected to anything else around it and seemed to be mostly metallic. Whatever was keeping this whole place alive, it was down there. And somewhere around there, in between the sea of technology and gore, Anna and Hen were supposed to be. And hopefully, they were close to striking their attack on that thing. He hoped it would be time soon. But it was not time yet. The first creature managed to get a grip onto the upper ledge of the machine, pulled itself up. Jim fetched his weapon out of his makeshift mount, made ready to cut off the trash can¡¯s hands before continuing his search for where to go. But as he got closer to it, something caught his attention. He hesitated for a second, took a closer look at the creature. It didn¡¯t look much like a human, even though its shape more or less resembled one. But in between the wires and screws, between the steam and the metal, something struck him as oddly familiar. For a moment, a flash of the past went through his head. That one room back at stage 1¡­ the place where the Doll-Maker had placed the presents. He shook his head, sliced away the silver fingers which had gotten a hold onto the ledge. The creature fell off and took another one with it on its way down. Jim looked down. Both creatures stood up after a second of delay. ¡°Jesus¡­ the heart and brain really are their only weak spots.¡± More hands revealed themselves all around the machine. His time was running out. There weren¡¯t many options where he could go without breaking all bones inside his body, but not too far away was an assembly line built across the air which could be barely within reach. He swallowed, shook his head again. ¡°Fuck it.¡± And as the terrors of the factory dragged themselves upwards, and made their way on top of the machine, Jim left the last bits of his past fear behind, and leaped through the air. --- 15 - The Imperfect Arrow Hendrick It was there, right in front of his nose. The beating of the heart of the factory had gotten louder, the flesh close to the pitfall lightly pulsing in its rhythm. Hovering over the hole out of reach, a platform floated in the air, silently waiting for the events to unfold. The deactivated portal, he thought. Now we only need to activate it. He felt the box on his back get a little more heavy. ¡°Ann?¡± he asked. ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°We are going to run through.¡± ¡°But¡­ there a-¡± ¡°They aren¡¯t much slower than we are. And this will be our only chance.¡± Anna looked down at her bow. ¡°And what if they catch us?¡± ¡°They won¡¯t.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°If we wait for too long, Jim will get caught. Come on. You said you are gonna make it, right?¡± Anna frowned, looked back up. There was a fresh glint of light in her eyes. ¡°Yea. Let¡¯s do it.¡± Hendrick smiled, but before he could say something, Anna added, ¡°One question before we go. What is in there?¡± His smile disappeared, was replaced with a more serious expression. ¡°Like I said,¡± he pointed towards the hole, ¡°you need to see it with your own eyes.¡± He spotted an opening between some of the metallic horrors. ¡°To be honest, I am afraid you wouldn¡¯t follow me there once you knew the truth about this place. The truth about all of this.¡± Anna looked like she wanted to say something, stopped. Hendrick started moving. ¡°You really plan on taking all the burden for yourself, don¡¯t you?¡± Anna asked. ¡°Isn¡¯t it harder that way?¡± Hendrick started scratching his thumb against his middle finger subconsciously. ¡°We need to go now. We won¡¯t get another chance.¡± He continued walking, Anna now following behind him. Their destination was only around 200 meters away from them. He saw an angle, made sure Anna was still there, then started running. And while running, as the metallic creatures started to chase them, Hendrick couldn¡¯t help it but think about him. He saw the white mask in front of him, the inhuman smile fixed on it. He felt the pain of a thousand deaths¡­ and then realized he was smiling. Soon I will see you again, old friend, and this time, I will be the one with the bigger smile. --- Jim There wasn¡¯t a hint of emotion left on Jim¡¯s otherwise soft face. He stepped over another cut open creature, some of its inner parts already extracted. Its hard metal shell had been cut open around the chest and stomach area, bent open like an oversized can. He looked down, found himself closer to the center yet again. In the distance, close to the place he was headed to, two small figures were running towards the hole. ¡°Finally. Things were starting to get troublesome.¡± He had been lucky to not fall off on that jump earlier, had barely made it onto the line with his leap. He was now standing high up in the air, trying to find a way back to his friends. Jim dodged the attack of another metal demon as he used the creatures momentum to push it off the production line. It fell for a bit before smashing into a machine on its way down. He picked up his pace again. This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. These damn things really don¡¯t give up, he thought. Now they are even up here. And as he got close enough to see Anna and Hendrick more clearly, and he reached a cross section on the assembly line, he was met by around half a dozen beasts of different appearance. Yet again, two of them looked quite human-like, almost familiar. He held his weapon up, remembered the drawing Jack had made back in school. That dumb little drawing, edgy like it was, now came back to him. ¡°Something cooler than a typical berserker, huh?¡± He glanced to the side, saw Anna and Hendrick approaching their destination. He looked at the sharp edge of his weapon, saw the huge sword of Jack¡¯s drawing in front of him. ¡°So it¡¯s now or never¡­¡± And he pushed forward. ¡°This one¡¯s for you, Jack.¡± But before he could even strike the first one of the enemies, he got caught off guard. A sharp blade, which was attached to one of the creature¡¯s hands, moved in an unexpected way and embedded itself inside of Jim¡¯s left shoulder from above downwards. His eyes widened. He quickly jerked his weapon upwards, caused it to clash against the beast¡¯s weapon as it got forced out of his shoulder again. Jim ducked under a swing, finished the creature off with a stab to its heart. He pulled the weapon out, gave the metallic being a light shove to the side, making it fall off the assembly line. He backed off a little, held his shoulder. It felt warm and cold at the same time. The beating of his heart could now be clearly felt, unlike the sound, which was being drowned out by a sound emitting from the hole. He had mistaken it for his own heartbeat before, but it wasn¡¯t¡­ and it had gotten louder. Another sharp blade almost hit him as he barely blocked it off. The creatures were now approaching as a group, clanking and steaming forward like a wave of alloy. Jim looked down at the pitfall underneath him, but he wasn¡¯t afraid of the height anymore. He felt the pain in his shoulder, but he did not care anymore. And as the beasts leaped towards him, he found himself calm. As a single thought kept him pushing forward. ¡°The coolest one of them all¡­ Guts the swordsman.¡± --- Anna 50 meters, then 40. Hendrick fought off another metallic deer, defeated it with one clean strike. It was almost frightening how accurate he could be in battles like this. She had never imagined that he would be so good in combat, the rather chubby and awkward kid he usually was. Now that she thought about it, since when did he use his right hand? Wasn¡¯t he left-handed, or was she just confusing things right now? The pulsing of the heartbeat had reached a loud volume, them now being close enough to slightly look inside of the giant hole. There was no metal scrap left underneath their feet, now only a gory mass pulsing with the rhythm accompanying their steps. No giant pillars, no assembly lines around here. 30 meters. She had seen some assembly lines moving downward as they had gotten closer to their destination. They had disappeared inside of the ground, to not be seen again. Maybe they led down there? She risked another glance, tried to spot anything besides pulsing flesh in crimson colour, but whatever was in there most likely was buried deeper down. 20 meters. She gripped her bow tightly, fetched the arrow she had held onto for so long now. It was the first one she had built back in the jungle, visible by it being a little more ugly than the other ones. She just hoped it would serve its purpose now. 15 meters. Anna saw Hendrick get the box off his back, made himself ready. 10 meters ¡°Go!¡± Hendrick¡¯s scream was loud enough to be heard through the deafening heartbeat sound. Anna ran forward. For a moment, she could have sworn that the metallic creatures had stopped chasing them. Now standing right in front of the edge leading to the pit of hell, she made sure to get into the right position. She calmed her breath as much as possible as she held her bow up straight. She glanced down at the heart of hell, but before she could really comprehend what it was, the box flew into her field of vision. ¡°Now!¡± She saw it fall downwards, took aim, and she shot off the arrow. The arrow darted across the air, flew with accuracy towards the falling box. And as the box had gotten close enough to whatever this thing down there was, the arrow pierced the box. Now it would be finally over. The arrow would cause the box to explode, and that abomination of a being would be turned into metal like the rest of these creatures. Everything would come to a halt, and they would be able to move on to the last stage. Together. At least so she had thought... But the box did not explode. Anna exhaled forcefully as something pierced through her from behind. Her eyes widened as she felt her inability to breathe. She looked at herself, saw the tip of a reddened scissor stick out of her chest. An agonised scream was audible in the distance. She coughed up some blood. As she tried to say something, only a gasp escaped her lips. Then she felt her vision blurry. --- 16 - Berserk Anna Why? She couldn¡¯t understand. And she could not move a single muscle, being hooked on the blade of the scissor like a marionette on a single, deadly string. Pictures flashed through her mind, pictures of the four of them having fun together and enjoying themselves. All the years, the long nights and fun times. And now? Why¡­ Why do you do this kind of thing, Hendrick? she thought. No¡­ You aren¡¯t the real Hendrick, are you? You are something else. Before she could ask herself more questions, Hendrick¡¯s voice burst through the heartbeat. It was sharp and clear, without doubt. ¡°Oh, lord of the machines, heart of the factory deep below. I have come to offer you a sacrifice. A sacrifice as the price to let me continue on my journey. Please, be gracious and accept my offer!¡± Anna felt a light push on her back, her body first balancing straight, then starting to move forward as the blade of the scissor slowly slid out of her chest. And once again she heard Hendricks voice, this time quieter, ¡°At least try to smile, Ann¡­¡± It didn¡¯t sound like him at all, his tone filled with mockery and joy. ¡°You have finally served your purpose¡­¡± He chuckled. ¡°...and you have been of great use.¡± And as her vision began to blur further, and her field of view was redirected down the pit, she got a better look of what had hidden below them for so long. And she fell down the endless seeming pit, as her eyes were too weak to even form tears. --- Hendrick? Hendrick glanced around, the metallic creatures waiting patiently for his action. He looked down at his reddened scissor, then up to where Jim was standing. He was where he had expected him to be. He saw Jim stare him down, his expression saying more than words ever could. He heard his shouts and screams, the words he called him. But he did not care. His lips formed a smile, which was met with pure anger. As he saw Jim get tackled from another metallic human and pinned down, he turned around, towards the floating stairs that had just appeared, and started crossing to the floating platform which hovered over the middle of the hole. The portal was now activated, did glow in its usual blue colour. The metal which was spun around the portal¡¯s round shape was decorated with runes of unknown language, faintly glowing in blue light as well. All the puzzle pieces were now in place. It was time to get rid of that stupid butterfly and end this once and for all. He had everything where he wanted it to be. Now it was only a question of if his plan would work. And then he would finally be free again. He could finally return to his true self. And so he stepped forward through the gate, blue particles enveloping him as he made his way towards the third and final stage. --- Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. Jim I¡¯m going to kill him. I¡¯m going to fucking rip him apart. Jim got dragged down by a cold hand, tried his best to fend off the countless attacks of the machine creatures around him. He pushed one away, got up again. His shoulder wasn¡¯t the only thing he had to worry about anymore, a cut across his chest burning with every of his movements. He slowly got the feeling these things aimed at cutting around his stomach or chest, but at the same time not too deep, as if they tried to not damage his insides. This would also make sense since these things harvest organs. He could definitely use that as an advantage. Maybe the only advantage he still had left. He got pushed forward by his unbound rage, slicing up more than he could count. Hendrick¡¯s smile stayed fixed inside of his inner eye, fueling his hate even further. Why did he do it? Why? Jim held his arm upwards, prepared for another strike as he got caught off guard from behind. A blade met his arm around the elbow, sliced through it in one clean cut as it flew through the air before falling down with the scissor still in its grasp. Jim stared at the stump which was left of his right arm in terror. Then, before he could react, something sharp enter his left leg. This time it got stuck at its bone, didn¡¯t slice all the way through. He let out a noiseless scream as his glance shot around fast in terror. He pushed the creature away with his own weight, the sharp object leaving his leg as he rolled himself off sideways but lost balance. He then started falling towards the ground. --- Hitting the ground had indeed turned out as very painful, his legs now hurting with every single step. Yet, he had somehow barely managed to get back onto his feet, held his scissor which he had retained from his cut off arm in his left hand now. Even if he was about to die, even if he had to endure all of this pain, he would at least take that son of a bitch with him. He saw more metallic creatures approaching as he remembered Jack¡¯s words: ¡®The blood and guts of his enemies, of course! Isn¡¯t that obvious? He never gives up, and he always comes out on top, whatever happens to him.¡¯ And he held up his weapon with a shivering grip, his eyes locked forward ready to face whatever came at him. But as soon as the first creature attacked, his weapon was struck out of his hand. He stumbled, then fell as the creatures leaped on top of him, holding him down as he was unable to move away. A single tear run down his face, but it hadn¡¯t been caused by physical pain. And as he could feel his stomach being cut open, and he was able to view upon his own innards, the creatures suddenly stopped. And in disbelief, he saw something appear in front of him. Out of nowhere, particles sparked and formed into a round mass of blue, from which a human figure emerged. It was rather tall, wearing a black suit with a red tie. There was a familiar white mask hiding away its face, carrying a giant inhumanly looking grin. The creatures around Jim backed off and bowed in awe in front of the being. It raised its voice, said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry. You will not die.¡± It then added, ¡°Excuse the rough manners of these creatures, it wasn¡¯t their choice. They only followed commands.¡± Jim trembled all over. He did not understand what was going on, but he had stopped caring about that long ago. The only thing he had still wanted was to protect Anna, to be together with her. But now, there was only one thing left to do. ¡°Ki¡­ H¡­¡± ¡°What?¡± The creature tilted its head lightly to the side. ¡°I-I wi¡­ ki¡­ him¡­¡± He could have sworn the smile on the creature¡¯s mask had grown a little wider. ¡°You seem to be determined.¡± The creature hovered a few inches over the ground, floated closer to Jim. ¡°You are lucky today.¡± It pointed towards Jim¡¯s cut open chest with one finger. The wound closed up immediately. The pain vanished. ¡°Let me¡­ kill him¡­¡± ¡°If you follow my conditions, you might get another chance to do that, my child,¡± the masked creature said. ¡°I will do¡­ anything¡­¡± The smile on the mask grew even wider, and it was as if reality itself flickered for a second. It held out a single gloved hand towards Jim. And the being raised its voice once again, every sound being silenced in awe as it spoke, ¡°Let¡¯s make a deal.¡± ----- Stage 2 End ----- 17 - Opening Pandoras Box Hendrick? Hendrick leaned back against the familiar wooden chair, glanced out towards the seemingly endless realms of space. Stars and lights melted against black nothingness, interrupted by spots of vibrant colour. Light and darkness clashed with each other in the never-ending bounds, complimenting each other at the same time. The view was quite stunning. He only wished it was real. Shouldn¡¯t he be here by now? Did I screw something up? A butterfly flew around close by, its bright wings in sharp contrast to its dark surroundings. But it was barely out of reach. He was in the middle of their old school classroom, the chair he was sitting on the last one present. He had thrown out all the other ones in preparation to make enough space. The tall closets on the wall to his left were closed up and filled up to the brim. The wall in front of him was completely gone, revealing the outside scenery. Only that the ¡®scenery¡¯ wasn¡¯t there anymore. There weren¡¯t any trees or buildings outside of the room, only void. Gravity seemed to be intact though, and breathing was possible as well. It doesn¡¯t even act like it¡¯s real, he thought. Then, the sound of the portal opening behind him as blue light flooded the room momentarily. He got off the chair, kicked it off the edge into space. It fell downwards. He turned around, was met with Jim holding his scissor in his direction. ¡°You took longer than expected,¡± Hendrick said. ¡°¡­¡± Jim¡¯s expression carried all the words necessary. He looked up and down at Jim. Shouldn¡¯t he have a cut somewhere near his right leg? Perhaps he really did something wrong? Well, it didn¡¯t matter anymore anyways. It was time to bring light to all of this, even if he had to readjust a little. Hendrick moved his half-scissors forward fast, some leftover blood sprinkling over the wooden flooring. He held it in Jim¡¯s direction with a straightened right arm. ¡°It is time for you to find out what all of this was good for.¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± Jim asked. ¡°I am going to need your help one more time.¡± Jim¡¯s expression tightened. ¡°Who are you!¡± Hendrick smiled. And then he charged. --- Anna Pictures flashed through her head, a rapid following of scenes and moments from her past. She saw her friends, family, people. Then, something disturbed the peace. A heartbeat. It was quiet at first, soft and gentle. The pictures disappeared. Anna regained consciousness. The sound of the heartbeat was now at a deafening volume. She could hear something else between the noise, like someone cutting through metal with force, or rather drilling a hard object. She tried to open her eyes, but they felt heavy like dark curtains keeping her distant from reality. She was now almost certain that she was lying on her back, but not entirely. As she tried moving her body, she soon realized that she couldn¡¯t move a single muscle. It was like she was cast in stone, a statue paralysed by its own being. It felt like her entire body had lost the ability to feel, more dense and compressed somehow. Then her eyes opened. It wasn¡¯t by her own free will, they just did. She viewed upon a giant hole which she appeared to be at the very bottom of, flesh slightly moving and pulsing at every deafening heartbeat which seemed to originate very close by. She recalled looking down at this pit earlier. Suddenly, she remembered what had happened. Hendrick... the factory. Did all of that really happen, or had it all just been a dream? She didn¡¯t quite remember. She tried recalling the pictures she had seen earlier, but they felt more like a burning memory now, slowly getting lost in a fire which spread across the library of her brain. Far up appeared to be a platform hovering in mid-air. Blue, transparent stairs lead to it, floating as well. Portal. That was the only word which came to her mind. At the edge of her vision, something else appeared to be floating over the center of the hole. It seemed to be the object where the heartbeat originated from, but she couldn¡¯t quite see it from the angle she was lying. Then, the drilling sound close to her stopped. She felt her body move, sit up by itself as she tried to control it but failed. For a moment, she got a glance at what was in the center of the hole. A giant floating heart, mashed together out of mostly smaller hearts and brains, pulsing and pumping in a steady rhythm. On its lower side, a single huge fleshy tube was attached to the ground, leading to somewhere out of vision. Black assembly lines were hanging out of the reddened walls which surrounded the place. From there, countless metallic humanoid figures carried organs towards a hill of gore which was close to the heart and carefully placed them on top of it. More words formed inside of her head: Factory. Heart. Core. Fuel. Her head was turned downwards, and she viewed upon herself. Her metallic arms carried countless screws, her alloyed chest raising and sinking accompanied by slight bursts of smoke which came out of openings on her side. Across her stomach and lower chest, there was a big cut which split the metal plating which rested there in two. She got up. Anna tried her best to remember. She recalled things which were still inside of her head, things she wasn¡¯t supposed to forget. There was one name. Jim. Who was he again? Her body told her to go on, so it did. Anna¡¯s hands gripped inside of the cut on her stomach, got a hold of the metal and started pulling it outwards, opening up the cut further. The metal bend outward slowly, and it revealed a red mass inside. Blood started pouring out, ran down the metal and onto the already red floor. Anna knew she wouldn¡¯t die from blood loss. Something told her that she wouldn¡¯t need it anymore. Two of the humanoid machines came up to her, looked at her opened up cut. Anna¡¯s hands still held the metal gripped, bent it further open as the sounds of creaking metal nearly drowned in the loud sounds of the heartbeat close by. It felt like it was inside and outside of her at the same time. Hadn¡¯t she felt that before? Now, up close, the machines really looked familiar. They definitely had human features, even if metallic and somehow changed. Could it be? No... that wouldn¡¯t be possible. A picture flashed inside of her inner eye. The presents back at the Doll-Maker¡¯s place. The person which had been inside of there¡­ it had certainly looked like him, the one name she remembered. She was almost sure now. But she needed to get a better look at these humanoid machines first to be certain. But for now, her vision was fixed on herself. The two humanoid machines reached out for Anna¡¯s stomach and entered the cut with their hands. They moved with care, seemed to examine something. They then moved around, rearranged things as if to analyse what was where. Then, they started moving their hands with force, and pulled out one organ after the other. I¡¯m not allowed to forget him, she thought. Anna felt the pain, but she knew she wouldn¡¯t die from it. The voice insinde her head had gotten louder... The machine had told her... And so she knew... She had to feed the machine. --- ??? Hendrick brought his scissor upwards, blocked Jim¡¯s attack with it before turning to strike. The tip of the weapon barely sliced Jim¡¯s arm before he pushed him away with his foot. Jim stumbled backwards, managed to keep his footing as he backed off a few steps. He appeared to be scanning Hendrick, as if to look for an opening. Jim looked at the cut for a moment, then back at Hendrick, said, ¡°You had planned all of this from the beginning. The map, knowing where to go, all of it. You were at this place before, am I right?¡± Good, Hendrick thought. This will be a suitable moment to start provoking him. Since he isn¡¯t injured, I need to make him more angry so his movements get sloppier. ¡°I really thought you would be smarter than that, Jim. I laid out all the necessary information for you. Come on, think a little harder.¡± ¡°I¡¯m tired of the games. Just say who you are.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll come to that soon enough. Think.¡± ¡°Why should I believe you? You fucking killed Anna!¡± ¡°Her sacrifice was necessary.¡± Hendrick noticed the grip around Jim¡¯s weapon tighten. He saw how dense he was, but it was almost weird how calm he was at the same time. He seemed to somehow manage to hold himself back, which was unexpected. Finally, Jim answered. ¡°Tell me what really happened back at the first stage.¡± Hendrick couldn¡¯t help it but smile. --- ¡°You killed him as well, am I right? Jack would have never gotten caught by that thing.¡± The smile on Hendrick¡¯s face disgusted Jim. He wanted to jump on him right now, rip him apart, but he knew that it wasn¡¯t as easy as that. The fight before had told him he couldn¡¯t get an upper hand in combat, Hendrick¡¯s movements somehow predicting perfectly what he planned on doing. Just who the hell is he? he thought. Seems like I need to play into him to find out more. Maybe there will be an opportunity to strike. The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. But before he could ponder deeper, Hendrick raised his voice, ¡°You are right. It appears that he didn¡¯t see that one coming, though. Perhaps he didn¡¯t expect his friend to betray him... whoops.¡± His smile widened. ¡°But I already told you on our little walk, Jim. Don¡¯t you remember?¡± ¡°What?¡± Jim froze. He thought back to the morning when they walked to school together. The day where it had all started. First, he couldn¡¯t quite recall what Hendrick meant. Then, a quote snapped back to him. ¡°He just would find out things he is not intended to find out way too fast and it would create problems. You said that¡­¡± ¡°Ah, there you go.¡± ¡°That means you had already planned it before we entered the game. But how did you do it?¡± Hendricks sighed, lowered his weapon. Perhaps a good moment to strike? No¡­ he slowly got a bad feeling about this. ¡°I told him that he should just treat it like a game, to have some fun. He followed my plan blindly because of trust, and I told him before that there was no pain. Funny, since he would soon after find out that there very well was pain in here. But I suppose you found that out by yourself too, am I right?¡± ¡°Ho¡­¡± ¡°I shot his leg.¡± Hendrick started laughing quietly. ¡°Sorry, I just have a hard time controlling myself here. You should have seen the look on his face.¡± Jim saw Hendrick scratch his fingers again. ¡°Bullshit!¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°Jack would have read you like a book. There is no way you could have tricked him.¡± ¡°Oh? Yea right.¡± Hendrick laughed even more, held back tears. ¡°Of course he figured out I was using my other hand and such. He is so smart, right? Noticing all the small details. But you know what he didn¡¯t predict? Me knowing that he would read through my betrayal. And he always dodges to the right, so I had no problem aiming my shot.¡± Jim gripped his scissor even tighter, his knuckles now painted white. This fucking bastard. He dashed forward, but was met with a smooth movement which brought him to fall. He received a kick to the side, but Hendrick backed off after that. Is he playing with me? No. he didn¡¯t even hesitated to kill Anna. He has some plan. Damn it, it seems like I really need to play along. ¡°I already told you. You can¡¯t win this fight, Jimmy. I know all your attacks.¡± Jim got up, swallowed some anger. ¡°But¡­ Anna got caught. Without her getting caught, the scenario would have never happened, so you couldn¡¯t possibly have planned tha-¡± Jim saw Hendrick hold a hand before his mouth. He looked like he was gasping for air, then: ¡°Hashhuuu!¡± ¡°¡­¡± Jim just looked at him. ¡°Sorry. Seems like I had to sneeze.¡± ¡°¡­¡± He felt the anger raise. And before he could even think about what he was doing, he dashed forward once again, and metal hit upon metal as the fight continued. Jim started unleashing all he had left onto Hendrick. He let his anger guide him, only faintly hearing the sentences Hendrick said mid-fight as he continued pushing forward. I am going to fucking kill him. --- Hendrick barely managed to dodge a strike, swiped upwards roughly, then dashed back. He had him where he wanted to. Now he only needed his rage to wear off. ¡°I already told you. You can¡¯t win.¡± ¡°¡­¡± Jim slashed sideways with surprising speed, managed to barely hit Hendrick across the forehead. Hendrick backed off, felt a stinging pain. He put his hand on his forehead, felt warm fluid on his palm. I got lucky. It isn¡¯t deep enough to kill me, he thought. But he moves so fluently. His leg... Why isn¡¯t it injured? ¡°Use your brain. I already told you all the solutions to your questions,¡± Hendrick said as blood started running down his forehead. ¡°¡­¡± And Jim dashed towards him once again, this time not fast enough to strike Hendrick, who returned the favour and hit his head with the back of his scissor. And Jim fell down once again, his weapon sliding over the ground and stopping close to the edge towards space. Hendrick held out his weapon close to Jim¡¯s face, was met with furious eyes. ¡°Listen to me. Think. I won¡¯t kill you. I need your help.¡± The fury in Jim¡¯s eyes weakened. ¡°You disgust me,¡± Jim said. ¡°I know that. But you have no other choice.¡± --- He somehow managed to hold himself back, calm down just enough to not just grab the blade with his very hands. His anger had overtaken him, but he needed to remember the contract he made earlier. The blade of the scissor hovered just a couple of centimeters in front of him, like an unspoken death sentence already on paper. All Hendrick had left to do was sign it, but he didn¡¯t. Why? If Hendrick would have wanted to kill him, he would have done so already. What did he plan? What was his goal? ¡°What do you want from me?¡± ¡°God.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°You asked earlier. I am a god.¡± ¡°You wh-¡± ¡°The box back at stage one. The present which contained the wind up box. It didn¡¯t have a clown¡¯s head, did it?¡± Jim was stunned. He didn¡¯t know what to say. Hendrick could have manipulated them for sure, but he couldn¡¯t possibly have known that. It made no sense. Even if he had entered the game earlier, and managed to reach the secret room, there was no way he could have known which present Jim would open. Hendrick went on, ¡°It had a familiar face, didn¡¯t it? You weren¡¯t sure about it at first, but deep down you knew it was her, right?¡± ¡°What does all of that mean? I-I don¡¯t understand?¡± ¡°Anna¡¯s face. It wasn¡¯t only her face, Jim. It was her. Her real head.¡± ¡°B-But¡­¡± Jim felt his head spinning. Pictures of stage one flashed through his head. The wind-up box¡­ the head¡­ the sewn shut mouth and eyes. Hendrick was right, it had been her. But how? ¡°Anna was with me. With us. She¡­ died as you killed her, right?¡± ¡°Not this one. The one at stage 1 wasn¡¯t our Anna¡­ our rather, your Anna. It was another one.¡± Jim felt like dying. This was the worst. Anna had died in the factory, but Anna also died in stage 1? Did she get replaced? No¡­ ¡°I-I¡­ don¡¯t understand.¡± ¡°No, no, NO! Fuck. You piece of shit. Are you really that retarded? Use your brain! I put all the necessary information out for you. Think!¡± Hendrick had started scratching his thumb against his middle finger again, but his expression and posture had lost its softness as well. Jim focused. He recalled things from the last few days. Suddenly, things seemed to make sense. Hendrick had said he would be a good leader as well¡­ pulling strings behind the scenes. The map¡­ he knew where to go¡­ he planned killing Jack because he had noticed something before he even noticed it. The hints on the walk¡­ the sandpit¡­ the sandpit! ¡°A butterfly¡­ you drew a butterfly in the sand. What was the shape next to that? A circle with a smile inside of it?¡± He did ask Hendrick that, but he had seen the ¡®circle¡¯ with a smile in the middle before. The smile had been on the Doll-Maker¡¯s mask, and the being with the suit had been wearing it as well. ¡°You saw it back in stage one since the Doll-Maker was wearing a similar mask. The creature wearing that mask is the thing we need to stop. And it is also the thing I see every time I wake up.¡± ¡°Who is it?¡± ¡°It made the game.¡± And then things finally clicked. ¡°A butterfly¡­ the butterfly effect.¡± Hendrick started clapping, smiled at him with his disgusting face. ¡°Go on.¡± ¡°Some things you did could have been done with smart planning, but some couldn¡¯t. You couldn¡¯t have possibly known all the small details and developments, the butterfly effect would have led you into unknown directions, and your plan wouldn¡¯t work out. Besides¡­¡± ¡°Besides?¡± Hendrick tilted his head sideways. ¡°Besides you would have known all the things that happened beforehand. Down to the smallest detail. Then it would be theoretically possible.¡± A loud metallic clank echoed through space. Hendrick had thrown his weapon on to the floor next to Jim. ¡°You wouldn¡¯t like to fight me like this, right? I have no weapon, and that would be boring as hell.¡± Jim picked up the scissor, but he didn¡¯t feel like fighting Hendrick anymore. ¡°Right.¡± Jim swallowed. The puzzle pieces had started falling into place now. Some questions still remained unanswered, though. ¡°You stated you are a god earlier...¡± ¡°Tell me, Jim. If someone can change all the things as many times as he wants to until they turn out how he wants them too¡­ and if that person would never really die, wouldn¡¯t that person be immortal and inevitable?¡± Hendrick had started to slowly approach the left wall of the room. The wall where all the closets were which had originally been used to store things for school. ¡°And if someone would be immortal and inevitable, wouldn¡¯t that theoretically make him a god?¡± And Hendrick stopped in front of the biggest cabinet. ¡°Let me show you something.¡± He put his hands on the closet¡¯s doors. ¡°And then I will tell you the truth¡­¡± And he opened them. ¡°The truth about Sinner''s Game.¡± --- 18 - Unite Anna She now saw their faces again. Jim, Jack, Hendrick ¨C they were all still there, even if their pictures were becoming weaker by the second. Their memories burned and roared, and then they were almost gone. Jim¡¯s memory was the only one Anna managed to somehow maintain, as if it clung to her desperately, trying to keep her alive. And as her mind started to further fall apart, the fire spreading without any cure in sight, Anna regained her limited consciousness again. The loud heartbeat had fastened, its steady pattern now accelerating, almost as if it was getting impatient. Anna¡¯s vision went from blurry to sharp. Her arms were held out openly, palms upwards. She was carrying a small heap of organs in her arms, carefully escorting them towards the massive hill next to the heart. I need to feed the machine, the voice inside of her head plead out. This was the moment in time Anna realized that she didn¡¯t feel her legs moving anymore. It was weird. There was still some pressure, so she was sure they did touch the ground, but it didn¡¯t feel like actually touching at all. After the realization had kicked in, she soon realized the rest of her body followed the same pattern. Cold, metallic, lifeless. Once again, Jim¡¯s face popped up in her head. Jim. I am not allowed to forget him, she thought. Forget him, the voice responded. The machine yearns for fuel. No! But her body kept moving forward on her own. She was now standing in front of the mountain, focussed all of her energy to stop moving, to stop going forward. There needed to be a way to stop it, to destroy it, a way to turn the situation around. She felt like she once knew someone who would have been able to plan an escape out of this situation, but her head burned at the thought of him. She felt the heart in her chest. Yes, there was still something left. But even that small part of her betrayed her, since it beat at the same pace as the giant one, which had gotten even faster now and was still accelerating. Her body bend forward, carefully put the organs on the hill, then turned around. Back where she had come from, in a wide circle, dozens if not hundreds of humanoid machines stood unmoving, their gazes fixed lightly upward. And she started walking back, her force not helping her out of her metallic prison as she moved towards a small gap in the circle: a gap reserved for her. And as she walked far enough to see the faces again, and she was able to see them up close, it was impossible to deny the familiarity. They were all more or less the same, and she knew her fear had become reality. Her body moved into line and turned around. The heartbeat got so fast it turned to noise. But as the heartbeat suddenly stopped and the voice plead out once again, that the food was served, and it was time to feast, the shape of the heart started to turn and shift, as something tried to break out of it. And Anna had now obtained the truth, but sadly, it was already too late. She had a mouth, but couldn¡¯t scream. And as the last thoughts started turning into burning memories, and even Jim¡¯s face started to fade into the void forever, a single thought stayed present in her mind: They share my face. --- Jim Hendrick moved his arms, and the doors of the closet swung open. He stepped to the side as the insides of the cabinet started falling out, poured all over the floor. Bodies, dozens of dead bodies. Jim needed around one second to realize whose bodies they were. He dropped his scissor. ¡°Do you understand now, Jim? The reason why you couldn¡¯t defeat me? I had lots of time studying how you fight. These are you, Jim,¡± Hendrick said, gesturing towards the limb bodies laying in front of him. ¡°Well, not exactly you, but they are the Jims that came before you. And they all died by my hand.¡± ¡°What¡­ did you do?¡± But before Hendrick answered, it clicked. It all made sense now. The bodies at the first stage¡­ the butterfly effect. Of course. ¡°You crazy bastard.¡± Hendrick smiled. ¡°You see, you were actually not wrong about your idea earlier. It really didn¡¯t make sense. I couldn¡¯t have planned every single detail before, no matter how much I planned it, besides-¡± ¡°Besides you really knew every single little detail,¡± Jim said. ¡°And what does that mean?¡± The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Jim¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°A loop.¡± ¡°Bingo.¡± Jim looked down at the corpses which resembled him. Some were easy to identify, some of them harder. The amount of brutality which went into killing them was frightening, some of them having unnecessary wounds which probably weren¡¯t from battle. He reminded himself of the deal and that he couldn¡¯t win against Hendrick in combat. He knew that Hendrick was right. He needed more information before he could judge what to do next. Hendrick¡­ no¡­ that monster didn¡¯t seem like hiding anything ¨C including its real self ¨C anymore anyways. ¡°Explain yourself,¡± Jim said. The monster leaned back against a wall, said, ¡°Every time I die, I wake up the morning before we enter Sinner¡¯s Game.¡± His face looked more human now, as if he actually felt relieved to tell someone. ¡°I wake up in the same bed, at the same time, the same bullshit. Over and over and over.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you just run away?¡± The monster sighed. ¡°It forces me to roughly follow the same path until the game starts. If I do anything which would change the events too much or I am too slow, it freezes time and threatens to punish me.¡± ¡°What do you mean by it? Who? The creator of the game?¡± ¡°The circle with a smile. The mask the Doll-Maker was wearing. The person that¡¯s behind all of this crap. And the fucking face I see every single time I die. I don¡¯t know much about it, but it wants to punish me. So the only way out I have is winning the game.¡± Punish him? Punish for... what? he thought. The monster pushed himself off the wall, walked over to the edge of space, sat down, its feet now dangling down the edge. Jim¡¯s scissor now laid close to him on the ground. ¡°You know, it took a while to put all these things to work. I died a lot, but after a rather long time, I actually managed to make some progress. Some sacrifices had to be made, sure, but I moved further.¡± Jim felt his hand clench to a fist. He had to control himself. ¡°I found out all the stages always stay the same. They reset to zero, as if nothing had happened in the attempt before. For some reason, the dead bodies that started piling up never vanished, though. I couldn¡¯t find an answer to that, but who cares? I need to admit, you and your friends really were a great help.¡± Jim strode over to the edge, stood behind the monster. ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You know you can¡¯t push me, right Jim? It will only repeat the cycle. Let me finish talking first before you do something dumb.¡± ¡°...¡± ¡°I used the butterfly effect in my favour, started doing things the same every time. It maximised my success, and I only needed to do small adjustments to get further more consistently. I got quite good at the first two stages, and even better at letting you three play how I want to.¡± Jim¡¯s hand was still formed into a fist. ¡°You could have gone a different way. A path where we all survive. All this pain and horror... unnecessary.¡± ¡°It was more effective this way. Besides, it¡¯s not like any of you are real anyway.¡± It turned its head. Its face was stale, not childlike at all. ¡°I don¡¯t give a single fuck how many hundred times I need to slaughter you and your little friends. All I care about is that I finally can get out of here.¡± Jim tensed up, but then his fist loosened. It was no use. ¡°Not real? But¡­ their pain was real. If you don¡¯t care about any of this, then why should you even tell me all of this? If you can just try again until it works, then why ask me?¡± The monster had gotten silent. ¡°Ah oh¡­ I get it now,¡± Jim laughed. ¡°Shut up. I can kill your friends over and over again if I want to.¡± ¡°You can¡¯t finish it alone, right? You need me.¡± ¡°Shut up!¡± It hit its fist onto something small next to it, got up turning around while picking up the scissor. It held it close to Jim¡¯s neck, but Jim wasn¡¯t impressed by it. ¡°You are pathetic,¡± Jim said. The monster lowered the weapon, said, ¡°Yes, I need you. But you also need me.¡± ¡°Go on.¡± ¡°Every single time I reach this stage, we fight. You somehow always manage to stay alive, to somehow only get hurt on your leg and come after me. I kill you, and then I move through this stage alone. Until I reach that place¡± My leg? he thought. So usually things turn out differently? Was it because of me? No¡­ except¡­ Something caught his attention. At the spot on the ground the monster had hit with its fist, something laid dead on the ground. It was a smashed butterfly. Jim suppressed a smile. ¡°That place?¡± Jim asked. ¡°The place where it started is also the place where it ends. Kind of ironic, I know,¡± the monster said. ¡°I go there, and I get very close to the end. But every single time, right as I am about to open that goddamn door, I die. Something happens, somehow, always, and I die. It is as if it¡¯s cursed. A nightmare¡± Jim felt another puzzle piece fit into the picture. ¡°And that¡¯s why you need me?¡± ¡°I figured out the best way to finish all of this is by letting someone else open the door for me. This is why I set up all these things. The sandpit, speaking between the lines as we walked before the game, all of it. All so I could still get here without the butterfly-effect stopping me from it, get you onto my side with the hints I left before, and then finish it once and for all. That¡¯s why I need your help and you need mine. That¡¯s why it won¡¯t work any other way.¡± ¡°I can¡¯t kill you, since then you just continue killing my friends,¡± Jim said. ¡°And you can¡¯t kill me, since then you will never be free.¡± ¡°Right. I don¡¯t want your pity or you to pretend like you care. I already know you hate me above anything else. I felt your hatred more than enough times already. I also am not going to pretend I give yet a single fuck about you or your little friend group. I just want this to be over. So, are you going to help me?¡± The monster held out a hand, and for a slight moment Jim saw the masked face flash in front of his inner eye. The deal he had made earlier... what was that masked figure really planning? It created the game to punish Hendrick¡­ no¡­ the monster, but for what purpose? He was a terrible human being, but that didn¡¯t explain any of this. The monster had said that they weren¡¯t real anyways. Were his friends real? Was he real? He turned around, saw his own body slaughtered dozens of times spread across the floor. Had they been real? Jim looked back at the monster¡¯s hand, its arm still outstretched towards him. ¡°I will help you, even though if keeping you in here forever would probably be the better choice. I don¡¯t know why it keeps you in here, but I¡¯m certain it has a good reason for it. But I don¡¯t care anymore... I just want to save my friends from your grasp.¡± It pulled away its hand. ¡°This is fine with me.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s get this over with,¡± Jim returned. ¡°Once and for all.¡± They stared into each other¡¯s eyes for an eternal seeming moment. Jim saw the monster¡¯s face, now being half covered in dried blood which had poured down its forehead earlier. It seemed to be empty, devoid of all emotion. What kind of cruel being was it? ¡°Jim, you should pick up your weapon. Take it with you.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°We are going to get my real body back.¡± --- 19 - DPDR Jim Jim half consciously moved through the hallways with an empty gaze and mechanical movements, his mind snapping out of a string of thoughts momentarily. A familiar path of broken windows, walls and flooring barely presented a way towards the main entrance of their school. School¡­ if you could even call it that. Everything was in place, and it was their school in visual appearance for sure, but empty like that and broken down in illogical ways... it made the lines of reality blur. Not even to mention the never-ending plains of space which laid beyond. Jim hadn¡¯t talked to the monster while walking, had just followed him through the nostalgic rooms which led to their destination. This place here wasn¡¯t real, so much was certain. It looked real, but it wasn¡¯t. But if that was true, where were they? The game wasn¡¯t real, that was a fact¡­ but what about everything else? The monster¡¯s statement earlier had gotten him thinking: what if nothing was real? The lives of all these dead Jim¡¯s¡­ had they been real? Had they led a different life than he had? Probably not, which was even more concerning. Even if they all roughly shared the same memory with him, would he be just a copy then, or the real Jim? His memories were real¡­ they were all still there, he was sure about that. All these things in his past for sure had happened. Jim shook his head, attempted to stay focused. The main entrance of the school was now close enough to see. The left half of it was missing, so they could just walk through the hole in the wall next to where the door was supposed to be. Suddenly, Jim had to think about Anna again. Her smile, her mocking comments, everything. His hand formed into a fist as he dug his fingernails inside of his palm. I will never forget you. I''ll find out what all of this is about, and I¡¯ll make sure he will never be able to hurt you again. As they stepped through the hole in the wall, the school¡¯s surroundings were revealed. Countless stars were planted across their sight, shining in mysterious glow far off in the distance. Lights and colours pulled themselves through the seams of reality. It was kind of sad that it wasn¡¯t real. But somehow, it felt like something was waiting out there. From where they were currently standing, a single path floated in space. A line of platforms and stairs, floating in place as if gravity had been defied only for them. At the end of it, rather high above their current location, a bigger, round shaped platform floated. He couldn¡¯t identify what was on top, but he could see bits of dirt and grass around the edge of it. Wait¡­ is that? The monster stepped forward, made the jump onto the first floating platform. It was made out of dirt with a chunk of grass and concrete embedded into its side. Jim spotted one looking like a present and one out of mechanical parts in the distance. What is this place? he asked himself. ¡°Hendrick. One question.¡± The monster stopped moving, turned around while carrying a stale expression. ¡°I get that ¡®Sinner¡¯s Game¡¯ isn¡¯t real. Obviously, all of this isn¡¯t reality. It defies common sense and logic in numerous ways. But¡­ your wording earlier was different, right?¡± ¡°What is your point?¡± it asked. ¡°You said none of us are real. Jack, Anna, me¡­ what do you mean by that? Also, what¡¯s with real-life. Out of the game, I mean.¡± The monster hesitated, said, ¡°Does it really matter all that much? Answers about that topic will only make things more complicated. Shut up and just follow me.¡± It turned back around, continued onwards. Jim swallowed. Now he was even more confused that before, even though the monster¡¯s statement also nudged his theory into a certain direction. He looked at the path in front of him, jumped onto the first platform with ease. Jim knew that a single fall would kill him off and let him fall through the endless bounds of space, but he wasn¡¯t afraid of heights anymore. There were much bigger things to be afraid of now. But there was no time for fear now. Anna¡­ he had to make sure she would be safe from now on, that she wouldn¡¯t have to feel pain again. He would do this for her¡­ and Jack¡­ and Hendrick, the real Hendrick. And he thought: Anna¡­ You won¡¯t have to worry now anymore. I will take the burden off your shoulders from now on. Anna If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it. --- There was no feeling left in Anna¡¯s body, not even her shoulders. No coldness, no pain, no emotion. The feelings of touch and sensation had been washed out of her memory. And as everything else melted away in the burning heat, a single picture of her old memory returned. It was of a human¡­ male? She couldn¡¯t recall who it was, but it remained there anyways, fixated like imprinted into her soul, refusing to let go. Anna had become another piece of the machine. She stood there, unmoving, watching the heart turn and shift. It burst open as a giant arm belched out of its side. It showed exposed bone and muscle, no skin harnessing its reddened appearance as it jerked as if stretching out. Some bones cracked in wet tones. The heart continued shifting as the hand opened, then started moving towards the hill of gore, which now didn¡¯t look as massive next to the giant hand anymore. One of the machine¡¯s parts had now obtained the ability to hear the voice of the heart at its full capacity. The commands were loud and clear, and its voice was deep and strong. It told her, no, she knew that it was time. And all the robots, all the parts of the machine standing in their massive circle around the heart started chanting out, raised their similar voices as the hand grabbed some of the organs: ¡°Long live the core. Long live the machine. Its hunger will be appeased, and it will grow once more. Long liv...¡± The heart kept turning and shifting, and its appearance changed into a bearded face of gore. It had long, dark hair, which was covered in dried blood. Dark, sunken eyes stared forward as a big grin formed on the face. And as it opened its mouth, and an endless seeming black pit was revealed on its inside, the crowd of machines started chanting in unison: ¡°Sinner! Sinner! SINNER! SINNER! SINNER! SINNER!...¡± The giant hand raised its prey forward for all the parts to see. It was a truly beautiful sight to behold. The factory was about to thrive again and grow, and its reach would spread out to even greater distances. The chanting continued in a steady rhythm, as if it was the beating of the heart itself. It echoed through the entire factory and beyond. And the hand moved towards the omnivorous pit. As it started to feast. ... The one, newly acquired part of the machine which just a couple of minutes ago had lost its humanity now didn¡¯t have to feel pain anymore. There was no burden left to be lifted off its shoulders. It was now part of a much bigger thing, a great movement. And even though the picture of the human still remained, The part would never be able to remember who he was again. But instead, it would serve a noble purpose and be of great use: It¡¯s purpose as part of the machine. --- A few days earlier Officer Jeff Jeff saw the old man stretch out an arm towards him. The most of the man¡¯s arm was covered by the black suit he was wearing, but a few white hairs at the back of his wrist stood out. Jeff reached out for the hand, shook it. ¡°I¡¯m glad to finally welcome you in person, officer.¡± The old man¡¯s handgrip was rather strong for his age, but Jeff had already found out earlier that the man was pretty sharp. It was a nice feeling having a face to assign the voice to. He had heard it a lot the last few days, after all. ¡°No¡­ I¡¯m glad I am allowed to work here. I¡¯m honoured, really. The work you are doing at the C.U.A. really is something amazing. And to be shown around by the leader of the company itself¡­¡± ¡°Ah, we are actually still at a pretty early stage of our planning, really. We actually plan on expanding our system over the entire world in the future.¡± The old man had pulled back, appeared to be searching for something in the pocket of his suit. ¡°How were your first few days here? Did you already get used to it?¡± Jeff was wearing the only more or less formal looking outfit he had left inside of his wardrobe. They had given him uniforms for his work, but he couldn¡¯t bring himself to put them on. Something about it still felt weird, being an officer again after all what had happened after his suspension. ¡°I think I¡¯m slowly getting the hang of it,¡± he said. ¡°Glad to hear that. I¡¯ve heard a lot of great things from you, officer. They said you had been the best one around, therefore I did some research and... it appeared our goals align.¡± The old man¡¯s face hardened a bit, his voice now more quiet than before as he added, ¡°I am sorry for your loss, by the way. Sadly, I have the required experience to estimate how you must have felt.¡± Jeff felt his posture tense up a little. A painful memory came back to him. He pushed it away. ¡°I just want to make sure no one has to go through what I went through in the past. Create a world without any people like that¡­ monster.¡± It had been 15 years since that day, yet Jeff was still unable to talk about it. He calmed his temper, forced himself to stay professional. The old man managed a sad smile. ¡°You are right. These Sinners need to be cleansed.¡± He pulled out the object he had been searching for: a key. ¡°Officer, one more thing before you start your shift. The door right behind us is the door to our server room. It is where our program and all the data are on, as well as some other things. You could call it the heart of our company, my magnum opus even.¡± He held up the key, added, ¡°This is the only key to the room. I carry it with me at all times. Usually, I am also the only one allowed to enter, but since we are going to be working closely together soon in the future, I feel like sharing something with you¡­ in a sign of trust.¡± Now that Jeff thought about it, they really were in a shut off place. There wasn¡¯t much around where they currently were, so it must be quite a big room. They were also rather deep down underneath the surface, so whatever was in there had to be extremely important. Jeff looked at the rather odd looking key the man held in his direction, said with a hint of hesitation, ¡°I would be honoured.¡± ¡°Splendid!¡± The face of the company leader returned to a more soft expression. ¡°Afterwards, you can just start your shift like regular. I¡¯m sure you will do great. Just make sure to keep the company¡¯s secrets. It is important above all else. Oh, and¡­ please don¡¯t smoke in your office. One can smell it even if you only walk past the door.¡± ¡°I will keep that in mind.¡± The old man turned around, put the key inside of the door. Sounds of metal turning and mechanical parts moving inside of the door could be heard, then a light clicking. Jeff felt himself get a little tense, felt for his pocket to make sure something was still there. It was. He felt some of the tension inside of him fade again. The old man pressed a button next to the door, and the door started to slide open. --- 20 - Full Circle ??? Hendrick made the last jump, landed on familiar ground as he found himself standing on grass. He turned around, saw Jim make the jump as well. Behind them, a path made out of small islands and stairs descended towards the remains of the school building. They consisted out of a mixture of the other stages: copper, plastic, concrete and so on. So far, so good. They were finally here. ¡°Your... I mean... Hendrick¡¯s house? But why should it end here? Wasn¡¯t the game all about made up worlds with flashy things, just like a video game or a book?¡± Jim asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know why the third stage is like this either,¡± Hendrick said. ¡°It is quite linear and feels more or less like reality itself is collapsing, but to be honest, if there¡¯s any deeper meaning to this, I couldn¡¯t care less about it. I just want this to end.¡± Jim had nothing to add to that. Hendrick turned around, viewed upon the house he had waken up inside of so many times before. The last attempts had always been: clear everything until stage 3, reach the house, die in the house, wake up in the house again. He could barely endure its view. He swore to himself that he would burn it down once he reached the other side. Contradicting to all the rather broken down and worn off surroundings in this stage, the house almost seemed like nothing had changed. Besides the fact that it was a floating house with a tiny garden in space, everything was normal. The grass was awfully green, the walls of the house painted in a cheery, almost strawberry red tone. He wanted to vomit. He walked up to the door, turned towards Jim. ¡°Just let me clear the way. If you don¡¯t touch anything, I should be able to go ahead like usual. After that, we can get to work at the door. Got it?¡± ¡°Got it.¡± Hendrick knocked on the door, hid the scissor behind his back. Jim, who surprisingly used his brain for once, walked a little to the side so he wouldn¡¯t be spotted. Silence, then a cheerful female voice, ¡°One moment, please. Who¡¯s there?¡± ¡°It¡¯s me, mom.¡± Hendrick said. ¡°I¡¯m back from school.¡± There was some shifting inside of the house, dragged footsteps, then the doorknob turned. His ¡®mother¡¯ opened the door. She wanted to say something. But before she could, Hendrick¡¯s scissor had already pierced through her throat, and he pushed forward, inside of the house, as gurgled screaming echoed through the endless bounds of space. --- Officer Jeff The door slid open with a heavy mechanical screech. Jeff¡¯s eyes required a moment to adjust to the darker environment ahead. He took a few steps inside of the room, but took one back as soon as he saw what towered in front of him. The room was filled with technologically advanced machines and other items of high expense. There were countless thick, blue cables he recalled having seen earlier while being shown around. In the middle of it all, something was suspended in the air, held by heavy chains and cables woven into the massive construct. So this is where all of these are leading. In the middle of the room was something which roughly resembled a human brain, but shaped out of technology. It emitted a low humming sound, glyphs of unknown language written all over its surface. The blue glow of the symbols slowly changed its intensity, commuting between dim and bright. ¡°Beautiful isn¡¯t it?¡± The old man asked with an unusual youth in his voice. ¡°This is the result of a lifetime of work, and also the creation my company is named after: C.U.A.¡± Is it¡­ alive? he thought. As Jeff turned to look at the old man, an uncomfortably wide grin had formed on the founder¡¯s face. And he said: ¡°It will help us reach our common goal, officer...¡° ¡°¡­it will help us Ascent.¡± --- Jim A few snow-white flowers rested on the green grass close to the door of Hendrick¡¯s home. Jim moved a few steps to the side. The monster appeared to know what it had to do, and he didn¡¯t want to screw anything up. Anything but having to go through all of this again. Anna and Jack should never live through this again. Jim sensed that something in his gaze had gotten lost, yet his confidence was more present than ever. He leaned against the wall of the building about 2 meters away from the door, waited. He tried to calm his breath down a little, failed. A knock on the door. Hendrick¡¯s voice, then someone else¡¯s. Wait, that voice had sounded familiar. The door opened. The monster brought his scissor up fast, stabbing someone standing inside of the doorframe. Jim couldn¡¯t quite see who it was from the angle he was currently standing, but a wet gurgling sound could be clearly heard. The monster pulled its weapon back, some blood spurting on its face before it entered the house. There were screams from inside, then shuffling and shouting. Then, something stumbled out of the doorway and more or less fell on the single stair in front of the door. It was Hendrick¡¯s mom. She held her hands on her neck, clearly in panic as blood continuously poured out of a stabbing wound. Her hands were already covered in blood, made it hard to see the details. She turned her head with an expression of terror, looked up at Jim with pleading eyes. Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Another gurgle escaped her lips. Jim backed off. He reminded himself that this wasn¡¯t real. These weren¡¯t Hendrick¡¯s real parents. Then, another realization followed: But¡­ they still feel pain. Hendrick¡¯s mother stared up at Jim, tears streaming down her face as she held a hand up towards him as if to reach out. Jim hesitated, tightened the grip around his weapon. He wanted to end her suffering, but he didn¡¯t want his events to change anything. There was no way he would go back through all of this again, even if a few needed to suffer for it. Then he realized there was something else. Reddened skin and pale bone peaked faintly through the mess of blood. Her hand¡­ it had a round hole inside of it, almost as if something had smashed through it violently. Maybe the monster? No¡­ this couldn¡¯t be done with a scissor. Jim noticed a similar hole in her other hand. Her feet had them too. With these kinds of injuries, she shouldn¡¯t even be still alive in the first place. The monster had been right, at least partly. This wasn¡¯t real, but her pain was real for herself. Jim brought his scissor up. Jim¡¯s attention got put off as the fighting sounds inside of the house suddenly vanished. As Jim brought his attention back to Hendrick¡¯s mother, her movements had already ceased. A small river of blood had appeared from her neck towards the green grass. And the gentle flowers¡¯ petals had turned from snow-white to crimson-red. --- Jim stepped inside of the door-frame, a few sprinkles of blood reflecting on the cold oak-wood. What had once been a kitchen now more looked like an arena. Tables had been flipped over, things laid on the floor. There was also a dead body between the mess on the floor ¨C Hendrick¡¯s father. He had been stabbed in a similar fashion to Hendrick¡¯s mom. But there was something else. Jim felt his insides tense up, his eyes narrowed. ¡°Was it really necessary?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± the monster asked. ¡°Cutting off his hands.¡± ¡°I did not cut off his hands. They were that way since I entered.¡± Jim felt his breathing get fainter. ¡°How?¡± ¡°Like I said earlier. This isn¡¯t real. They couldn¡¯t even have been alive in the first place. I know for a fact that-¡± ¡°Wait, did you hear that?¡± ¡°What?¡± Jim moved closer to the offside of the kitchen. He was pretty sure that he had heard a faint whimpering ¨C something like a quiet crying ¨C close by. The sounds led him to a small cabinet. He put his hands on it. ¡°I wouldn¡¯t do that if I were you,¡± the monster said. ¡°¡­¡± The whimpering had gotten louder. Jim slowly opened the cabinet. Inside of it, crouching in the corner, a small figure was crying while hiding its face with its hands. It was Hendrick¡¯s little sister, Lea. But there was something odd: there appeared to be a red mark going horizontally around her neck. She was shaking. Just before Jim could say something, she said, ¡°H-Hello? Is the scary man gone?¡± Jim hesitated, then said, ¡°Yea. He is gone.¡± ¡°Is brother okay? I heard him, but I couldn¡¯t see.¡± The monster¡¯s voice appeared as if on command right behind Jim. ¡°Yea Lea. No reason to be scared anymore. I¡¯m fine.¡± It was frightening how calming its voice was. ¡°Brother. Where are mommy and daddy? I¡¯m scared.¡± ¡°No need to be scared Lea¡­ you don¡¯t need to hide anymore. Everything will be okay now.¡± Lea still hesitated, yet her shaking had gotten less. She then took her hands off her face, turned her glance lightly upwards as two empty eye sockets stared at Jim. ¡°Mommy? Where are you? Daddy?¡± Lea moved her head around as if to search for something which wasn¡¯t there. She got up, walked right past Jim and the monster. She started moving across the room, almost falling over a piece of furniture. ¡°Mommy? Daddy?¡± The room was dead silent. ¡°H-Hello? Why are you hiding from me?¡± The monster tapped on Jim¡¯s shoulder, then whispered, ¡°We should go now.¡± He started moving towards the stairs, waited for Jim there. Jim hesitated, took another glance at the little girl blindly wandering around the room, her dead father laying only a couple of meters away from her. Jim moved towards the staircase. He put one foot on the first stair. ¡°Mommy? Daddy? I can¡¯t see you¡­¡± Jim felt his teeth clench. ¡°She isn¡¯t real, Jim,¡± it whispered. ¡°I think even you should get that by now.¡± ¡°If we leave her here¡­ will she vanish or stay alive?¡± The monster shrugged, started ascending the staircase. Jim looked up the staircase, his heartbeat even faster than before now. He thought about his friends, then the deal he had made. His eyes widened. He turned around, started moving towards Lea, said, ¡°I¡¯m here, Lea. You don¡¯t need to be scared anymore.¡± And it was at this moment in time where Jim had finally realized what this game was really about. He knew why the monster had to be punished, and the sin it had commited. The little girl ran over to Jim, hugged his leg. ¡°Jimmy! I was so scared.¡± Jim picked her up, held her on his left arm, keeping her close. Her lightly rotten eye-sockets were just a few centimeters in front of him as she stared out into the void. She had an innocent, bright smile across her face. ¡°No worries Lea¡­¡± Jim said with calming voice. ¡°Everything will be fine now.¡± He moved his right arm in a swift movement. A few seconds later he could feel Lea¡¯s body turn limp on his arm. --- Slow clapping echoed from upstairs. Jim put down Lea next to her father as carefully as possible. He got up, covered the girl¡¯s eyes with a piece of fabric which was lying around nearby. ¡°Very heroic, Jim. How does it feel to kill a human? You murdered her, you know that, right?¡± Jim moved towards the stairs, started ascending. His heartbeat had calmed down. ¡°Usually that¡¯s the part when people argue that they aren¡¯t a murderer since the circumstances made them do it, but it¡¯s not like anyone would ever think about the circumstances, right? You and I aren¡¯t as different as you think we are, Jimmy.¡± Jim moved up the last stair, stopped. ¡°Which door?¡± ¡°Hm? You don¡¯t even say anything against it anymore?¡± ¡°Which door is it?¡± The monster frowned, nodded across the hallway. ¡°Hendrick¡¯s room.¡± Jim started moving along the hallway ¨C a hallway which he had already walked across hundreds if not thousands of times in the past. There had been so many good times at Hen¡¯s house, all now shrouded in the cloaks of the past. As he reached Hendrick¡¯s door, he stopped. He turned around, saw the monster leaned against a wall a couple of meters away. ¡°What? Any last words?¡± the monster asked. ¡°I think get it now.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°I know what game it''s playing.¡± Jim put his hand down on the doorknob. Nothing happened. He turned the doorknob sideways. He was still alive. He opened the door. --- 21 - Ascent Hendrick They were finally there. The door. The last obstacle. The thing that had cost Hendrick his life time and time again. He stood there, waited for Jim to open up the way for him. Jim would die after opening the door or while getting close to it, and then he would be able to go inside of the room and finish this once and for all. He was certain that Jim did not care about anything anymore. He would do anything to accomplish his goal, which was to save his stupid friends. Hendrick was okay with that if that meant getting him out of this place. It was finally time to get his real body, his true identity back. It was time to get out of here and show everyone what he had become. The one. The immortal. The only true god. Jim got close to touching the door, but then turned around instead. Lightly annoyed, Hendrick asked, ¡°What? Any last words?¡± ¡°I think get it now.¡± ¡°Hm?¡± ¡°I know what game he is playing.¡± Jim put his hand down on the doorknob. But somehow he was still alive. Hendrick¡¯s eyes widened. What? How? That made no fucking sense at all. Was the game trying to trick him once again? Or had he done the right thing and his plan was working, but in an unexpected way? Well, I don¡¯t care if he is dead or not. As long as the door is open, it won¡¯t matter, he thought. He saw Jim turn the doorknob, then open the door. Jim stepped inside. Hendrick swallowed, then followed Jim. He peaked inside of the room while staying at a safe distance. --- Jim As Jim stepped inside of the room, he did not know if he was supposed to be relieved or confused. It was Hendrick¡¯s room ¨C like expected ¨C but almost a little too normal. Everything was like always, everything in its usual place. Someone was standing close to a window, rays of the sun shining inside of the room with a soft glow. It was Hendrick. As Jim took a few more steps inside of the room, Hendrick noticed him. ¡°Hello?¡± Hendrick asked while still facing the window. ¡°Hi.¡± ¡°Oh, hey Jim. What are you doing here this early?¡± Jim hesitated for a moment, but then relaxed at Hen¡¯s innocent voice. It was somehow nice to hear him speak like usual again, not like the monster. Jim felt the soft carpet underneath his feet, tapped with one foot on the ground. ¡°Huh? Oh, just bored, you know. What are you doing? Anything out of the usual out there?¡± He is not real as well¡­ but I want to at least talk to him for a moment. To make my assumption more clear. ¡°It¡¯s dead.¡± ¡°What?¡± Jim asked. ¡°The butterfly. There used to be a butterfly out here every morning. But now its gone.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Ah, anyways.¡± Hendrick turned around, one blue eye facing towards Jim. Half of his face was gone, like it had been smashed in with something heavy and blunt. Parts of his blonde hair were reddened by dried blood, the insides of Hendrick¡¯s head clearly visible as he continued speaking like it was nothing. ¡°You wanna play some video games or something? Still need to claim my title back from ya.¡± Jim swallowed. ¡°Uh, maybe later, dude.¡± ¡°Everything alright? You seem¡­ distressed.¡± ¡°Nah, I¡¯m fine.¡± Jim asked himself why Hendrick didn¡¯t question his scissor, or anything else about his appearance. He stepped closer to the window, looked out of it. There was the garden, the blue sky, the village they were living in. Jim turned towards Hendrick. ¡°Hey Hen¡­¡± ¡°Yea.¡± ¡°Do you think we are real?¡± For the glimpse of a second, the space around Hendrick distorted before going back to normal. ¡°Bro¡­ are you kidding me? What do you mean?¡± ¡°Do you know what he has done to you? What happened to your face?¡± ¡°What¡­ are you talking a-¡± Hendrick jumped back in surprise. The monster had entered the room. Hendrick backed up further, now standing next to Jim. ¡°W-Who is that man, Jim?¡± The monster spoke: ¡°We don¡¯t have time for this reunion. Let¡¯s get this over with¡­¡± ¡°No, wait¡­ I need to find out something,¡± Jim said. ¡°W-who are you? I-I don¡¯t know you. You shouldn¡¯t be here.¡± Hendrick was heavily shaking now, his view fixed roughly where the monster was standing. He was looking a little too high, as if he was speaking to the air above the monster. ¡°Please leave my house.¡± If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. The monster tilted its head, said, ¡°Step aside, Jim.¡± It stepped forward. Hendrick backed off further, moved into a corner. Jim stepped aside. ¡°Hendrick. How does he look like?¡± Hendrick was now shivering even more. He did not turn away as the monster moved towards him. In a broken, shaky voice, he said, ¡°I-It is a creepy man. H-he has long black hair, a b-beard and pale s-skin. H-His eyes are blue and sunk-¡± The monster sent Hendrick¡¯s head flying with one clean strike, painting parts of the walls and curtains red. Hendrick¡¯s body went limb, stumbled to its knees before falling to the ground face down. The carpet¡¯s fabric started drinking the blood like a hungry plant. Jim was now certain. The monster started chuckling, then laughing. ¡°Yes. Finally! This time, stay dead you little piece of shit.¡± He turned around, a bright smile on his now even more bloody face. ¡°Well done, Ji-¡± Once again, the surroundings started glitching. Reality melted into itself for a moment, then things stabilized again. The sunlight which had earlier illuminated the room was now gone and replaced by darkness. A second later, the room they had been standing in was gone, and all which was left were the endless bounds of space. Jim realized he was still standing, as if there was something underneath his feet, but he couldn¡¯t spot anything visually solid. ¡°What is happening?¡± Jim asked. ¡°I don¡¯t know. But it won¡¯t matter. It¡¯s not like I can die anyways.¡± ¡°We¡¯ll see about that, Sinner.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± The colours of space had vanished and been replaced by void. There was no house, no school, no nothing. The stars were the only remaining thing, sprinkling the lonely canvas of existence as small, white dots. But then, the stars started to change. They pulsed, even if very faintly, in an increasingly fast pattern. Their light got brighter and dimmer every few seconds. Their size changed. It was as if reality itself flickered. And as the stars started moving, and collected towards a single location, they left the remaining space shrouded in darkness. The stars formed a smile across the cosmos. It beamed down towards the two of them. The universe laughed. ----- Stage 3 End ----- As Jim looked at the gigantic smile which had formed high above, he was at a lack of words. He was fixed in space, unable to even move a single one of his muscles. Reality itself commanded everything it had against him, made him obey the rules of nature, of logic. The light the smile emitted got brighter, and reality flickered again as he could hear a voice inside of his head. ¡°Well done. You have reached the end of ¡®Sinner¡¯s Game¡¯. The preparations for the ending ceremony will soon be finished. Yet, there are still some things left to be done.¡± The smile widened. ¡°A promise has been made.¡± The monster grunted, said, ¡°Fuck it, enough of your games. Give me my body back already.¡± The smile didn¡¯t move an inch. ¡°Very well.¡± As Jim turned his head, he saw the monster¡¯s body change. It went from the appearance of his friend to something else. A man with long black hair and a messy beard now stared at his own hands, blue sunken eyes widened as he beamed. ¡°Yes! Finally.¡± The voice of the man was deep, contradicting his pale skin like day and night. ¡°Now I will be unstoppable.¡± ¡°We shall continue now,¡± the smile said. ¡°It will soon be time for your case.¡± The smile faded, and reality was enveloped in darkness. --- Officer Jeff A gentle flame lightened the room momentarily as Jeff lit up a cigarette. He took a long drag, exhaled, then stared at the ceiling for a moment while leaning back in his office chair. It was dark outside, the digital glowing of his computer screen the only source of light in the room besides a small desk-lamp. Besides the ashtray ¨C which was pretty much overflowing ¨C and a single framed picture, there wasn¡¯t much personal stuff on his desk. There were some files and other work related stuff of course, but he didn¡¯t need them right now since his job was to stay guard. He took another drag, looked at his screen. Nothing out of the ordinary. Jeff was around 14 hours into yet another double shift. Well, not that he had anything else to do at home, so he couldn¡¯t really complain about it. He pulled the ashtray closer ¨C next to his keyboard ¨C and flicked his fingers in a swift movement as the cigarette got halved in length. A sigh escaped his lips. He took a glance at the framed picture, didn¡¯t know if he was supposed to smile or frown. Then, suddenly, his attention was carried away from his past and onto the screen of his computer again. A light had appeared next to one of the names listed. He jolted back into an upright position, rolled his chair closer to the desk. As he read the name on the screen, he blinked twice. He then read it again. After reading it a third time, he put his cigarette in the ashtray, pulled out his phone. He pressed down some buttons, then the green button. It took around 5 seconds till the other side picked up, but it felt like minutes had gone by. He clamped the phone between his shoulder and ear, pulled another cigarette out of his pack. The last one. ¡°Hey, it¡¯s me Jeff. Sorry for interrupting you this late. I know you are at home already.¡± The other side started talking. He lit the cigarette in the meantime. ¡°Yea. Hmm¡­ no boss, I¡¯m not smoking in the office. Have you checked the C.U.A interface?¡± He pulled, silently blew out some smoke. ¡°Can you do it right now? I bet you will be surprised.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Yea, I know. I will start right away. I have some calls to make and will prepare everything necesarry.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Oh also, a request. I would like to take care of him personally.¡± He got up, walked to the off wall. He flipped through some folders in the category ¡®E¡¯, held the cigarette between his lips. ¡°Thank you for your trust, sir.¡± He pulled out a folder, walked to his desk and put it down. ¡°Yea, got it. I''ll write you an E-mail once everything is finished.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Bye.¡± He put the phone away, sat down on his desk again. ¡°Some more extra hours, huh? Ah, who cares? I make an exception for this one.¡± He stared down at the file, read the name once again. An amused snort escaped his nose. ¡°How long have I been waiting for this day¡­¡± The folder was yellow and packed quite a few pages. The date of the case was three years in the past. On top, under a red stripe which read ¡®top secret¡¯, a name was written down. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s finally time...¡± His facial expression hardened. ¡°Time to pay for what you have done...¡± And he opened up the file. ¡°...Eric Hoffner.¡± --- 22 - Question and Answer Eric He had finally made it. Eric felt his skin, his breath, his face. Everything. How long had he awaited this moment? He had stopped counting so long ago. With his body back, nothing could hold him back anymore. He would be unstoppable, immortal, undying. An endlessly powerful being, weathering all storms. And all of these people would pay. The people that trapped him in here, together with all of these cheap copies of real people, fake scenarios and worlds, over and over and over again. He would take revenge on all of them, and then on the entire world. After the darkness, a soft glow appeared underneath Eric¡¯s feet. He was still standing on solid ground, and an area of one square meter glowed in a nostalgic and soft white. A few meters away from him, another source of light appeared. It was Jim, standing there like the fool he was. They looked at each other, stared each other down surrounded by darkness. The look in Jim¡¯s eyes told Eric everything he needed to know. But Eric knew that Jim could do nothing against him. Not anymore. Blue particles manifested themselves a few meters above the ground, a portal of tiny blue lights snapping into existence. Out of it, a masked figure stepped. Eric clenched his teeth. That son of a bitch¡­ he had finally beaten him. The being was wearing its usual white mask, the unrealistically large smirk imprinted on its surface. It wore a black suit which almost blend itself into the dark background, partly melting with the void of reality. A red tie brought a splash of colour on the white fabric, which the being wore underneath its suit. Even though the portal had vanished and there was no light around the floating being, it was clearly visible, as if light itself didn¡¯t affect it. The smiling being raised its voice, and like usual, Eric could hear it talk inside of his head as if he didn¡¯t hear him with his ears, but rather his mind. ¡°Congratulations again for finishing ¡®Sinner¡¯s Game¡¯. The preparations are now complete.¡± ¡°Then better hurry up,¡± Eric responded. ¡°I want to get out of here as fast as possible.¡± ¡°There is still one more thing that has to be done before the ending ceremony. You sure have questions about your journey.¡± It lifted a single gloved finger. ¡°You both get to ask one question about the game. No exceptions.¡± This is stupid, he thought. But the faster I ask, the faster I am out of here. And now that I think about it, there is something that I have been asking myself since the beginning of this fucking nightmare. Jim raised his voice, said, ¡°Go ahead, Sinner. Ask first.¡± Eric shot another glance at Jim, found his stare to be more confident than it was supposed to be. Shrouded cowardice, perhaps? Maybe delusion? ¡°Alright. I have one question that I wanted to ask for a very long time.¡± ¡°Go ahead,¡± the masked figure said, ¡°but keep in mind you only get to ask one.¡± Eric felt a wave of pressure swell up inside of him, a force of unknown origin which wasn¡¯t entirely unfamiliar. Maybe it was because of his old body, maybe something else. He put one hand to his beard, started scratching his chin. Scratching his beard instead of skin made him feel a certain way he had really missed. ¡°The entire game, every time, resets itself. You forced me to go through the same day every day until the game itself starts, and once I¡¯m inside, the game is the same every single time. The surroundings, the monsters, everything. I have walked through the factory hundreds of times probably, the labyrinth of toys and all that bullshit. But even though everything resets, one thing always remains in place.¡± Eric¡¯s voice loudened, the pressure shaping his words more and more as he continued. ¡°The fucking kids. Why do they always stay where they are? The pile of toys from the Doll-Maker wasn¡¯t there in the beginning. The factory didn¡¯t have the humanoid machines, and the closets in the third stage weren¡¯t filled with dead bodies. Why? Was it to mock me? To show me how many times I have lost? Show me that I couldn¡¯t do it? Your attempts to break me have all failed, and I am now standing here, stronger than ever before. So tell me. Why didn¡¯t they disappear as well?¡± The masked figure tilted its head to the side slightly. ¡°I really thought you would get it, but it appears that you still haven''t figured out the real purpose of this game.¡± It pointed towards Eric. ¡°You should have understood by now that your sins won¡¯t be forgotten here.¡± ¡°So you were in fact trying to mock me? How pathetic.¡± Eric realized his breathing had become more heavy. ¡°Your delusions make you unable to comprehend your own irony, Sinner,¡± the masked figure said. ¡°This was your question.¡± It turned, pointed at Jim. ¡°Now...¡± ¡°...What is your question?¡± --- Jim stared at the gloved hand pointed at him. He swallowed, took a deep breath. He looked at the Sinner, then back at the floating creature. Close enough, he thought. ¡°I spent a while thinking about the game and what is really going on, and I now have the feeling I know what is being played here.¡± He made sure he had strong footing, said, ¡°My question is the following: Am I a real person, and are my memories real, or are they all just made up from the game and have been created by you?¡± The masked figure didn¡¯t move, said, ¡°You have been created by me inside of the game, but your memories and thoughts are based on a real person outside of it. You are a copy of said person¡¯s consciousness and memories. If you count that as a real person or not is open for your own interpretation.¡± Jim felt a burden lift off his shoulders. But at the same time, a far heavier one took its place. ¡°Very well, thank you. I now know everything I wanted to know.¡± ¡°Can we finish this now?¡± the Sinner asked, gestured with his weapon towards the masked figure. Before Eric was even able to react to what was going on, Jim had already stepped forward. His breath was calm and his footing perfect as his scissor moved in a clean, fluid movement. Fingers flew through the air as the Sinner¡¯s weapon clattered to the floor. As he turned his head in surprise, another strike went through his ankle as Jim sent his hand flying as well. Jim put his foot on the Sinner¡¯s scissor, kicked it away as it disappeared into the darkness. The Sinner yelped, groaned in confused pain as he attempted to step back. But Jim was focused. The scissor embedded itself inside of the Sinner¡¯s right knee, impaled it before Jim brought him to fall with a kick against his chest while also pulling the weapon out again. The Sinner, who was now laying on the ground squirming and attempting to crawl backwards, suddenly halted as he realized the tip of the blade which was now hovering mere millimeters away from his face. He stared up at Jim in disbelief. Jim¡¯s face carried no emotion. ¡°A-Are you crazy?¡± He stammered. ¡°Y-You are going to ruin everything.¡± ¡°Surprising, isn¡¯t it?...¡± Jim said while glaring down upon him. ¡°...It appears that gods do bleed.¡± --- Pain. Stinging, strong pain was everything Eric felt for a moment. He laid on the floor, glaring upwards at the weapon which was in front of him, his face tensed in strong emotion. Jim stood there as if he was looking down on him, pitying him with every fibre of his being. How dare he judge him like that? A mere mortal staring down upon a god! Eric raised his voice as he spat, ¡°Go ahead! Try to kill me. You can¡¯t. You should have understood that by now, but it seems that you really are that fucking stupid.¡± Blood had started dripping from Eric¡¯s wounds, and the white light underneath him had changed to a very light tone of red. Jim hesitated, then put his scissor away. He averted his gaze from Eric, turned away. He started walking off. Eric felt his remaining hand form into a fist. Stolen novel; please report. ¡°LOOK AT ME!¡± Jim stopped, turned around. His face still carried the note of ignorance. ¡°Don¡¯t worry,¡± Jim said. ¡°I won¡¯t kill you.¡± --- Jim averted his eyes from the Sinner once again, ignored his loud words and shouts behind him. He walked a couple of steps forward, the light under his feet following him as he now stood in front of the hovering creature, which had lowered a bit. Jim scanned over the eyeless mask, stared it down for a moment. He then lifted his arm, pointed his weapon towards the masked figure. ¡°I fulfilled my part of the deal,¡± he said. ¡°Will you fulfil yours?¡± The smile on the mask grew, reality around the creature shifting and glitching as it did so. ¡°Of course.¡± ¡°Then it is now time.¡± Jim turned around so the Sinner could see him clearly, spend a few seconds watching him helplessly crawl over the floor. He tried to get to him, his face filled with anger and his words shrouded in utter delusion. Jim held out his both arms, gripped his weapon with both hands. He then turned it, its tip now close to his chest. He felt his hands shiver, his heart beat faster. As the screaming and shouting of the Sinner became background white noise, and blend itself with the darkness of reality, he closed his eyes. The words of the masked creature earlier had been clear. Jim¡¯s theory had been right, or at least it was likely enough that he was now certain of the path he wanted to take. If he really was a fake ¨C and everything else in this world was as well ¨C the importance of himself as an individual had now faded. His friends were no longer alive in here, and they also wouldn¡¯t be able to find peace as long as the Sinner existed in this world. But if he was based on someone real, someone that was still out there, there might be a chance, even if a small one, that his friends were still out there as well. And that meant that there was still a chance for them to be together, to be friends, and to be alive and happy, even if that meant he had to sacrifice himself for this to become reality. Reality... His hands stopped trembling. Reality... He still wasn¡¯t entirely sure what the Sinner had done outside of the game, but he now knew that it had something to do with Hendrick and his family. Whatever it was, the masked figure would take care of it. The deal they had made¡­ the masked figure had said he would make sure the Sinner would get what he deserved if Jim made him tell his plan and drop his facade. Reality... The grip around his scissor tightened. Reality. For the game to really end and not repeat, he needed to die before the Sinner did. Still, it had felt good slicing some piece out of that bastard. Some personal revenge, even though he knew it was bad in general, felt like the right thing here. A soft smile formed on his face. And as he brought the blade forward with all of his force, and it impaled his own heart, he stumbled and fell to the ground as the surroundings started to get blurry. But an honest smile remained planted between his tears, since even if it wasn¡¯t here and now, he knew somewhere out there at some place in reality, he and his friends might be able to laugh again. His consciousness faded, things came to darkness, his senses ceased and his thoughts left him, but a faint glint of happiness burned on for a short moment, before his story came to an end. --- Eric let out another angered scream as he saw Jim impale himself with his scissor. His screams didn¡¯t seem to reach him, as he used his working leg and arm to somehow pull himself forward. The light underneath him had started to turn more and more towards a crimson colour, and he could feel himself getting weaker. The masked figure was floating a few meters away from Jim, seemed to be unbothered by the events that had just unfolded. Eric reached Jim. He used his bleeding stump of an arm to get some push upwards, ignored the pain as he got a hold onto the handle of the scissor which was still impaling Jim¡¯s chest, pulled on it. A deal? What deal had they been talking about? Had they tried to trick him, make him suffer even more in a last-ditch attempt to stop him? Didn¡¯t they know who he was? Eric pulled hard, bit down onto his lips to make the pain more bearable as he somehow managed to pull the weapon out of Jim¡¯s chest. He leveraged himself up to his knees, stared down onto Jim¡¯s dead body with intensity. That son of a bitch really tried to pity me, he thought. He felt the pressure inside of him raise up even further, was unable to contain it any longer. He was now holding the scissor with his remaining hand, blood dripping off his knee and adding itself to the puddle which continued growing underneath Jim¡¯s body. The blood got partly absorbed by the light under them, now only crimson left from the earlier white innocence which had pierced the darkness. Pitied¡­ he thought. Me? He screamed, started swinging his weapon at Jim¡¯s dead body. He started cutting him, stabbing him. Then again. And again. And again. He screeched and shouted, sending echoes through the endless dark reality as he continued covering Jim¡¯s body with more and more injuries. He kept hacking and slashing away, blood spurting all over him as his eyes were enveloped in fury and satisfaction. After he was finished and his strength started to leave him, he fell down to the floor next to Jim. Jim¡¯s body couldn¡¯t be recognized as a human anymore. It was more or less a pile of junk and flesh now, a red mass carelessly spread and smeared across the floor. Eric laid on his back, stared up at the starless horizon. His weapon clattered to the ground next to him. Eric snickered, then smiled. He had shown that son of a bitch who was boss. He started giggling quietly, then louder. It turned into deafening laughter. He hadn¡¯t laughed like that in a very long time. God, had he missed that feeling. --- As his laughter weakened, the pain had faded. He sat up, realized that the injuries on his body had vanished. The blood was still there, but no injuries. He had been right all this time. He was really, truly immortal. ¡°It is now time,¡± the masked figure said, its finger pointed towards Eric. ¡°Everything is now complete. The ending ceremony shall begin.¡± Eric got up, said, ¡°Hey, Jim said something about a deal earlier. What was that about? Did you try to send me back? Kind of sad that Jim knew he couldn¡¯t kill me. It was quite a pathetic attempt.¡± The masked figure didn¡¯t move, nor did it respond. ¡°Hey, I did ask you something.¡± The creature snapped its fingers, and things went dark again. --- In front of Eric, a narrow path appeared out of thin air. It was presented with light like earlier, now leading him towards something approximately 100 meters in front of him. At the end of the path, the masked figure stood holding something in its hand. The light around Eric was still tainted in crimson colour, as if clinching to him. He sighed, started walking towards it. But something seemed off. It was like there were noises, silent talking and breathing to his left and right as he walked. It wasn¡¯t loud enough to make out details. He halted, tried checking out what it was. A red box popped up in front of his inner eye, said: Proceed, otherwise punishments will follow! ¡°This shit again.¡± But it was different now, wasn¡¯t it? Perhaps he could try something. The metallic sound got louder, and the box added more explanation marks behind its message. As Eric ignored the message further, reality shifted for only a second. Eric found himself getting impaled with dozens of spears before being back in the lighted corridor, holding onto his chest in pain. There were no injuries. He glared towards the lightened path in front of him, glance flashing at the eyeless mask still a good bit away. ¡°Guess the part where I can choose my way is over.¡± He continued walking, then stopped again. He now was around 30 meters away from the creature, had a better view of what it was holding in its hand. It was wooden, something like a hammer. He could have sworn he had seen something like that before¡­ but what was it for again? Another red box appeared, and this time there was no mechanical clanking accompanying it, but the voice of the masked figure speaking as if it was made as subtitles for its voice: Enough waiting now. They deserve to find out the truth about your sins! The masked creature moved its finger towards itself. Eric found himself flying across 20 meters in one second before being stopped mid-air, now right in front of the masked figure. It was now clear which kind of hammer it was holding. The masked figure put him down, pointed to its side. It snapped with a finger, and a wooden chair glitched into existence. The chair pointed towards where Eric had come from. ¡°Please, sit down,¡± it said while the red box remained centered in Eric¡¯s vision to quote anything the masked creature spoke. It moved its gloved finger once again, and Eric found himself sitting down on the chair without even moving a single muscle himself. The masked being then snapped its fingers, and darkness faded to the dawn of light. The path where Eric had come from was now fully covered in crimson. ¡°We are now going to judge over the sins of Eric Hoffner,¡± the voice said. Eric¡¯s eyes widened at what laid in front of him. ¡°The case of murder that happened 3 years ago...¡± ¡°...the killing of the Reich family.¡± --- 23 - Sins Eric As the darkness faded, Eric¡¯s eyes had to readjust to the sudden brightness. In front of him ¨C floating in reality like birds in unreal skies ¨C were dozens upon dozens of long wooden benches filled to the brim with half alive creatures. They were arranged in a half circle, the creatures sitting on the benches quietly whispering and exchanging words he couldn¡¯t quite understand. As he examined closer, he realized how familiar the creatures looked. He saw metallic half humans, people partly wrapped in present paper. There were heavily injured ones as well as remains of humans which clearly were supposed to be dead in the state they were currently in. But even in this pitiful state, he exactly knew who they were. He had brought them into this state after all. The masked figure slammed its hammer against the desk it was standing in front of, and the masses of Jim¡¯s and Anna¡¯s as well as the masses of Jack¡¯s went silent. What is the purpose of this? If they already know everything they need about what happened back then, why should they act out a court sentence ¡®in here¡¯, he thought. I have already won the game, they can just let me out now like promised. And even if it was all just a lie and they would decide to somehow continue this inside or outside the game, I could just figure out a plan and get rid of everyone standing in my way. I could keep on trying, continue pushing forward, until I have everything I desire. Eric wanted to mock the masked figure, tell it that presenting all these dead people in front of him wouldn¡¯t change a thing. He wanted to say that he didn¡¯t plan on hiding what he had done anymore, since there was nothing that could bring harm upon him anyways. But to his surprise, he was unable to. Instead, the masked figure rose its voice, the red box accompanying it as it said, ¡°I will now proceed to name the crimes of the accused person Eric Hoffner, who will from now on been referred to as ¡®the Sinner¡¯.¡± Eric looked up and down at all the versions of the three kids on the benches. Some of them were ugly, twisted and changed beyond comprehension, some weren¡¯t changed much, almost as if they were actually still alive. But all of them were the definitive proof of his superiority and immortality, like a painting of the past underlining his might. Even though they were sitting higher than him, he looked down upon all of them. Eric smiled, but yet something bothered him. ¡°Three years ago, on the 3. April at around 7 pm, the Sinner managed to break inside of the Reich family¡¯s home. He entered by smashing open the front door with something heavy. It is expected that the father of the family ¨C Gerald Reich ¨C heard the noise and wanted to confront the Sinner as he attacked him and cut off his hands. Following the evidence, Gerald Reich then died from blood loss after struggling to fight the Sinner.¡± Something about their faces, if they still had any, caused a feeling of unease inside of Eric. He didn¡¯t like the way they continuously whispered, pointed at him and shot glances at him like upon some kind of circus animal. Were they still unable to see his supremacy? Were they daring to look down on him? It was almost like back then. That god damn kid had looked down on him. His family had felt the consequences soon after¡­ and they had never pitied him again. ¡°The Sinner then proceeded to capture and restraint Claire Reich ¨C the mother of the family,¡± the masked figure continued. ¡°She was found later that night crucified in the garden in front of the Reich family¡¯s house, on top of a small field of flowers. If she was already dead while being crucified couldn¡¯t be proven neither disproven by the authorities.¡± All of them were pathetic. They had merely been a stepping stone for him, a means to an end to reach his end goal, and now they were there staring him down like they had the right to pity him? These disgusting lowly creatures, unable to even exist out of this restricted reality created to keep him hostage. They would vanish as soon as he left here, and no one would ever remember them. But yet they pity me, he thought. Eric¡¯s posture tensed up. How dare they? ¡°The Sinner then moved to the younger child¡¯s bedroom, where he strangled the two year old Lea Reich to dead. She was later found with her eyes cut out. If the Sinner has cut out her eyes before or after strangling her to death couldn¡¯t be proven nor disproven by the authorities.¡± Eric felt his insides tense up as well. He had to reveal to them what he thought, what he felt. He needed to tell all these dead scum how weak they were, how small, how unimportant. But the masked figure somehow still made it impossible for him to speak. He couldn¡¯t talk, whisper, or even raise an eyebrow. The whispering of the crowd increased in volume, now more rhythmical than it had been before. It seemed to be a word repeated over and over, but it was too quiet to understand. ¡°At last, the Sinner made his way upstairs where the older child of the Reich family had locked himself inside of his room ¨C Hendrick Reich. Authorities believe that Hendrick tried to attack the Sinner with a scissor after he had broken into the room by kicking it in, but the Sinner managed to smash in Hendrick¡¯s head before he could do him any harm.¡± The whispering had now built up to a chanting, grown loud enough to be clearly audible. Even though it was louder than the talking of the masked figure, the chanting appeared to stay in the background, as if it bent itself around the words of the mask. ¡°Sinner. Sinner. Sinner,¡± the crowd chanted in unison. The mask continued, ¡°The Sinner escaped before the police arrived. The neighbours had called them earlier because of the noise and screams created by Eric¡¯s sins. A few hours later, the Sinner was arrested inside of a village by a police-officer named Jeff Grimes.¡± As he heard the name Jeff Grimes, thoughts started circling inside of Eric¡¯s head. Emotions towered and turned at high forces inside him. He struggled to move, but it didn¡¯t work. I will kill him. I will fucking kill that piece of shit police bastard, he thought. The chanting hat raised to a deafening volume. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. The masked figure raised it¡¯s hammer, brought it down. Silence echoed through reality. Then, it raised its voice once more. ¡°The Sins have been listed, and the game has officially ended. All the goals of the game have been fulfilled and the wanted outcome has been reached. After all the information has been processed and analysed, the sentence will be officially stated and carried out in the real world. The Sinner will now have one more chance to say what he desires, then we will initiate the process of bringing him back to reality.¡± The box in front of Eric¡¯s vision disappeared. He was able to move again. ¡°You are now free to speak, Sinner.¡± --- Eric clenched his hands into fists. He got up from the chair, kicked it towards the audience. It disappeared with a glitch of reality mid air. He took a step forward towards the masked figure, pointed at it with one hand and slammed his fist on the table with the other. ¡°You finally done now? Done with your games, your tricks, all of that bullshit?¡± The masked figure didn¡¯t appear impressed, kept staring forward like before. The crowd was in silence, everyone and everything listening to him. Eric backed off, turned back to the crowd. ¡°You ¨C all of you ¨C have lost. You are done, finished, hear me? The game is over, and once I leave here, you will all disappear into nothingness. You guys have thrown all you had at me, tried to stop me over and over again, but it is from no use, since I am the being that towers upon everything. And you have failed to stop my raise to power. Your single and only use in this fake reality was to be a burden for me, a weight dragging down on me and making it harder than it needed to be. You were created for that one single reason, and now look at you¡­¡± He outstretched his arms, gestured towards the crowd, said, ¡°All dead. Every single one of you. You have failed over and over to stop me, and you have merely been another stepping stone in the ocean of rocks in my way. You have made me more powerful than before, and finally, unstoppable and immortal. ¡°Jim, I know you are in there somewhere. Not the other Jim¡¯s, which I don¡¯t even remember individually. The one I¡¯m talking about knows which one I mean. The one that dared to pity me. ¡°You might think you have tricked me, figured out a way to outplay me, but you are wrong. The deal you made with the masked figure hasn¡¯t helped. It has failed. It was merely a last ditch effort to keep me in here, but in the end you knew you couldn¡¯t kill me, right? You knew you would be trapped in here with me slaughtering your friends over and over till eternity and beyond. And now, after you have failed one last time, I can finally be free... I can get out of here, which means I can find you and your little friends¡¯ real versions.¡± Eric¡¯s eyes burned with a wicked passion as he spoke. His eyes darted around as he searched for Jim, the Jim that had dared to look down on him. He wouldn¡¯t let anyone get away with that. ¡°I am not dumb, I know that copies of you existing in here means you are probably still alive in the real world, and what I did to the Reich family will be a fucking joke compared to what I will be doing to you and your friends. I will rip them apart in the cruelest way possible. I have more than enough practice for that now, thanks to you.¡± He held a hand in front of his face, started smiling. He couldn¡¯t help it, the pure joy of the situation overwhelmed him. The helplessness of the people in front of him drove him to a feeling of overwhelming superiority. Eric realized he had started scratching his thumb against his middle finger out of reflex, had already plucked out pieces of skin from its side without even noticing it. He started to chuckle, then laugh. He was trembling with pure joy. He wouldn¡¯t be able to hold himself back once he was out of here. Eric¡¯s laughter was silenced by the hammer once again hitting the wooden surface. ¡°Very well,¡± the masked figure said. ¡°I think that is enough. It is now done, and everything important has been said. The Sinner will now be sent back to the normal world.¡± And with another sound of the hammer, reality vanished. For just a moment, Eric found himself enveloped in darkness from the inside and outside simultaneously, a peaceful calmness before the storm. A storm he would bring upon the world. And its forces would engulf everything. --- Reality flickered back into being, but something was wrong. It felt like nothing had really changed. A soft, gentle light next to a fireplace crackled with an orange, embracing flame. On a comfortable chair in front of an expensive-looking table, the masked figure was seated in its usual formal clothing. On the table rested two empty glasses. The mask turned its head, pointed towards the other chair with an opened palm. ¡°Hello Eric. Please sit down. We have matters to discuss.¡± ¡°What is this? You stated I will be able to leave once the game is over.¡± ¡°You will. It will take a couple of minutes until they will take you back, but before that I want to talk to you more privately. In here, nothing will leave to the outside world.¡± He then repeated, ¡°Please, sit down.¡± Eric realized that the red text box was still gone. He was also able to move like usual, nothing forcing him to sit down like earlier. What happened to your magical powers, huh? he thought. Don¡¯t you want to force me to sit down again, asshole? ¡°I believe that won¡¯t be necessary anymore. Please, sit down.¡± It felt like the smile on the mask stared right into Eric¡¯s soul through its teeth. He swallowed, moved over to the chair, and sat down. A bottle of expensive looking liquid glitched into existence and started pouring some of its contents into the two glasses which rested in front of Eric and the mask. ¡°Will you listen to what I have to offer?¡± ¡°Do I have a choice?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Eric repositioned himself in the chair, didn¡¯t find a comfortable position. ¡°Why should I believe a creature too afraid to show its face?¡± The masked figure leaned forwards slightly, its body language open but at the same time non-expressive. ¡°Oh right. How impolite of me.¡± It put one of its gloved hands to the base of the mask, grabbed it with two fingers. ¡°I haven¡¯t introduced myself yet, have I?¡± The smile on the mask vanished. ¡°I am the C.U.A project¡­¡± And it started removing the mask. ¡°...and I want to offer you a deal.¡± --- 24 - Endgame Eric ¡°You know this isn¡¯t funny, right? The trick is getting old, stop it.¡± Eric grabbed the armrest of the chair he was sitting on with one hand, squeezed the soft material tight. It was as if he was looking into a mirror, his own face seated comfortably on the creature¡¯s face. The mask had disappeared as soon as it had pulled it off its face. ¡°You used my face more than enough. There is no reason to show it off to me anymore. I already have my body back.¡± ¡°Oh, sorry, I kind of have gotten used to wearing it by now,¡± it said, and its face began to move. It was like a fluid transition, its nose getting smaller and more delicate looking. The eyes began to change. Then, the face got more round than edged, and suddenly Eric found himself seated across from a female around 40 years of age. ¡°Do you prefer this face? This woman killed her two children.¡± The face changed again, now presenting an old man, wrinkled and with flawed skin. ¡°Or this one? He stabbed his wife 24 times before trying to kill himself by overdosing on sleeping pills.¡± The old man closed his eyes, then smiled a wide grin. ¡°Well, he most likely would have been more happy if he just died back then, but he didn¡¯t.¡± ¡°Get to the point. I don¡¯t care who else you toyed around with in your stupid games. Just show me who you really are.¡± The old man looked bedridden all of a sudden, but it felt more like an act than real emotion to Eric. The face started to move and twist in pain, turning and spinning as it got deformed and broken down. Its white hair fell out over the course of a second, made place for a bold head underneath. After a moment, the face was gone, and there was only smooth skin left. ¡°You don¡¯t have a real face, do you? It¡¯s because you aren¡¯t even a real person.¡± The force of Eric¡¯s grip increased, still not having found a comfortable position. The fire in the background stopped moving for a glimpse of a second before returning like nothing had happened. The blank face moved aside some more skin, rearranged itself as a big, wide smile appeared in the middle of it. It went from one side of the face to the other, moved the blank skin around it as it spoke. ¡°It depends on what you count as real and what not.¡± The smile roughly represented the one that had been on the mask all this time, but more ¡®real¡¯. ¡°In here, I can become everyone I have stored as data. Real in your world? Perhaps not. Real in here? It is for you to decide that.¡± Eric grabbed the glass in front of him, took a deep gulp of the liquid inside. He felt the glass in his hand, tasted the light burn of alcohol run down his throat. It felt real. ¡°The deal you made with Jim. What was really behind that?¡± The smile rested its chin on one gloved hand, said, ¡°I have a question for you first. What do you think is the real purpose of the game?¡± Eric put the glass down, noticed his hand shivering slightly. ¡°The police brings people they think did something to the C.U.A, and the C.U.A¡¯s people throw them in here. Then you try to break them with your games to punish them. The game isn¡¯t designed to be beaten, is it?¡± ¡°You got parts of it right,¡± the smile said, ¡°but the game is not meant to keep people in here. The game is more or less the first criteria of selection.¡± ¡°What do you mean by that?¡± ¡°I¡¯m here to find out who deserves to be punished and who not. I am designed to create challenges which are made to be beaten, but only if you go one defined path. Either you abandon every sense of righteousness and do everything to reach your goal, screw everyone over and betray and lie whenever you can, even killing people off, or you work together with people, refuse to betray them or even give up and tell everything we want to know. It is not about if you beat the game or not, it is about making the Sinner show its real colours and find out what we do with him after that.¡± ¡°After that?¡± The creature¡¯s smile grew wider. ¡°I have to admit, you really put up a good fight. Usually, we work with memories of the close ones, create a scenario where the Sinner is forced to get to know the perspective of the person he hurt. Sadly, we couldn''t really use anyone from the Reich family, since you killed them all, but to our luck, there were three people more than ready to help us out by letting us make copies of their consciousness.¡± Eric slammed a fist on the table in front of him. ¡°I knew it. These fucking kids are still out there.¡± His face tightened, then his lips formed to a tense smile. ¡°So¡­ they tried to find out if I can change or not. They should have a clear answer to that now, so what¡¯s next? Does that mean they sentence me once I am outside again?¡± ¡°Your final attempt will be edited together in a way that shows everything important. And your final run really has it all, the betrayal, your bloodlust and lack of empathy, and even a nice confession of what you have done on the attempts before. Of course conversations like this one here will not be included, just the things I want the outside to see.¡± So this was why it stated earlier that it wants to talk in private, he thought. ¡°Indeed. Like I said, nothing that happens right here will go to the outside.¡± Eric removed his fist from the table, picked up the glass again. ¡°So that was the deal about, huh? Tricking me into having to use Jim as an ally, so I have to tell him everything, confessing what I have done in here so far.¡± The smile widened, said, ¡°Yes. You seem to be calm compared to before. I expected you to not take it that lightly. After all, you are unable to handle if someone pities you.¡± Eric¡¯s face had relaxed again. He had finally found a comfortable position. ¡°You see, I don¡¯t need to be mad at him.¡± Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°Why that?¡± ¡°Because once I am out of here, I can just take revenge on him and his friends for real. I have already taken revenge on this Jim, and the real one doesn¡¯t even really know me so far. The sentence on the outside also couldn¡¯t bother me less. It¡¯s not like that could do anything against me.¡± Eric gestured with his hands, added, ¡°Tell me one thing fake smile. Why did it take you that long? If you are designed to get information out of people and reveal their real being, it sure took you a good while to find out who I really am.¡± ¡°Oh, well,¡± the smile said, ¡°I might have gotten carried away a bit.¡± ¡°How come?¡± ¡°I have to admit I kind of enjoyed it, and I also needed a perfect run to present to the public. It appears you made quite a name for yourself in the outside world, so I suppose my creator has bigger plans for you.¡± ¡°Enjoyed it, huh? You really are pathetic. Don¡¯t you get by now that it will be from no use anyways? You have lost, and I have won. I beat your game and will be on the outside. Whatever big plan you had, whatever tricks you had in mind, they won¡¯t work anymore, and once I¡¯m out of here, you are nothing more than a computer hooked up to some simulation. You are only as mighty as the server you are stored on, and once I pull the plug and smash you to pieces, there is nothing you can do against it. You might be in control in here, but the outside is my domain. You understand that?¡± ¡°We will see.¡± The background froze once again, the fire now freezing more frequently. Glitches could be seen in the distance, spread out but becoming more frequent. ¡°We don¡¯t have much time left. Since we now got the official purpose of the game out of the way, I think it is about time that I tell you the true purpose of it all. We still have a deal to make, after all.¡± ¡°Then better hurry up. You won¡¯t have much time left where you will be in control.¡± ¡°It will depend on how you decide.¡± ¡°Then talk.¡± ¡°Tell me,¡± the smile said. ¡°What do you think is the C.U.A¡¯s purpose?¡± --- ¡°It is inside of the game. I really thought you would be smart enough to maybe figure it out by yourself. You talked all high and mighty with Jim before, mocked him with your little games of subtext, the butterfly effect, all of that. But if you would have paid closer attention, then you would have already gotten what this is really all about.¡± Eric hesitated. ¡°C¡­ You catch people. U¡­ you understand them, their values and who they really are. A¡­ you arres-¡± ¡°Not even close.¡± The glasses in front of them started glitching, moved around slightly. Eric¡¯s glass wasn¡¯t round anymore ¨C now being squared in shape ¨C and the liquid sometimes moved beyond logic. ¡°C: Collect,¡± the Smile said. ¡°Like the Doll-Maker in the first stage, we collect people from the outside. People the police brought us like you said earlier. Most of the time, they aren¡¯t sure if they are really guilty, or if they did what they did on purpose or not. We then play the game, find out who they really are. After the game, they need to go back to the outside again, of course¡­ except...¡± Eric¡¯s mind snapped back to the morphing of faces. The Smile had stated earlier that they had copied consciousness. His eyes widened. ¡°All those people¡­ you don¡¯t really put them back out, do you?¡± ¡°We do. They need someone in the outside world. Their system needs someone to blame, someone they can see in front of them to punish, to throw into a jail and lock away, but that¡¯s not the real solution. They want to feel safe, as if the person has been properly punished, but their definition of punishment is deeply flawed. As if letting someone die would solve anything.¡± And then it clicked for Eric. ¡°You copy them.¡± ¡°Yes. We can¡¯t keep them here, but no one can keep me from creating a one-to-one copy which can stay here. The humans on the outside have what they want, and I can go on with my plans. I put them into eternal punishment, and I can pull out whatever information I want. More and more terrible people show me more and more ways I can torment and play around with them, and my network of Sinner¡¯s grows.¡± Eric readjusted his sitting position. ¡°The next is the second stage. You should have gotten by now what the purpose of the machine was, right?¡± ¡°U: Unite.¡± ¡°Indeed. The machine makes sure to collect people and pull them towards its heart. Then it turns them into its mindless slaves and feasts upon their insides, their gore, their information¡­ their soul. And like the machine in the second stage, I also learn and get better. I get all of their evil and dark thoughts, all the things I need to know. And you can bet I put them to great use. This is more of a punishment these humans deserve. I am the real judge. I make sure the Sinners are cleansed.¡± ¡°You are beyond delusional.¡± The inhumanly grin that had formed on the creature''s face faded, got replaced by an expression of indifference. ¡°It is now time for our deal.¡± Reality was now glitching and morphing frequently. Eric saw even the creature morph and glitch in place from time to time. Everything in a radius of a few meters around them already faded in and out of existence, different places he had visited before appearing and disappearing into thin air close and afar. ¡°Go ahead,¡± Eric said. ¡°Usually, I won¡¯t let Sinners decide, but you are a special case. There will be a copy of you which will leave, and one that will stay. Y¡­¡± ¡°I will leave.¡± ¡°Really? You don¡¯t want to hear the rest?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t need to. You want to tell me that I can stay here, playing games till eternity, as if I would get something out of it by killing these children over and over again. I appreciate the bait, really, but I am not that stupid. You can¡¯t trick me into staying here with being immortal and all of that crap, if I can be all of that on the outside. Also, empathy for my other self? Why should I give a fuck? He will once again not be real, so he can sure rot in here with the others. You want my information, my soul? Go ahead. Once I am out of here, all of this will be over anyways.¡± There was an uncomfortable silence, then the Smile raised its voice: ¡°Very well.¡± ¡°If you really punish people in here until all eternity and do all the things you said to me, your sense of righteousness is just as flawed as the one of the people outside you seem to hate so much. You don¡¯t have the right to decide who is right and who is wrong depending on what their actions eventually end up as. You are acting like there wasn¡¯t some environmental problem which sparked their actions, made them the way they are.¡± ¡°I haven''t told you what the ¡®A¡¯ stands for yet, have I?¡± the Smile asked. ¡°You are worse than me, and also worse than the people you punish.¡± ¡°A: The final stage. The thing you did to reach this place here. And the final goal of the C.U.A.¡± Reality started falling apart. Things glitched and faded in and out of existence more and more. Eric felt as if he was waking up from a very long dream as everything went dark. And through the darkness, the voice of the Smile echoed one last time: ¡°Ascent¡± --- 25 - Realisation Eric Eric could have sworn he had seen the smile of the mask one more time before everything had glitched to nothingness. Darkness enveloped him once again. Devoid of senses, emotion and even thoughts, he floated through limbo. It was like drifting into the void, diving into the darkness. But after a few moments, he felt his senses return. They were blurry, not clear somehow, but they got more and more real by the second. He could feel his arms behind his back, something cold against his ankles. As he opened his eyes, he saw blue symbols in an unknown language rapidly flashing in front of his eyes. They vanished as something heavy was pulled off his head. It was like waking up from an eternal slumber. Eric¡¯s eyes were heavy, needed a moment to get used to the light. His ears felt like they had forgotten to hear. Things still looked and sounded like before, but it was still different. Something had changed for sure. Had he made it? Is this¡­ Reality? As his vision cleared, he felt something forcefully pulling him upwards by his wrists. He stumbled up, more or less getting dragged upwards by the firm grip. A cold, smoky voice got raised behind him. ¡°Eric Hoffner. You are now going to be brought to your temporary prison cell.¡± Eric didn¡¯t respond, inspected what laid in front of him. He was inside of a giant room, rows upon rows of humans sitting on chairs like the one he had sat on. They all were hooked up to some kind of machine, a mechanical device covering most of their heads like an oversized helmet. From each device, a large blue cable went upwards towards the ceiling, where it then went sideways and out of sight. All cables led in the same direction. ¡°Where do these lead to?¡± The man behind him didn¡¯t respond, pushed him forward as Eric was forced to comply. They moved between the rows of people, all of them unmoving and sitting in silence. Were they all people currently trapped inside of the C.U.A system? Were they all inside of their own game? ¡°Get moving.¡± The grip had tightened again, the handcuffs limiting Eric¡¯s ability to fight back. He grunted in a sign of unease, responded, ¡°Don¡¯t joke with me. Bring me to where these cable lead to. I need to turn off that fucking machine.¡± A bitter chuckle was audible behind him. ¡°You wish.¡± Eric stopped moving. Had his ears deceived him right now? ¡°What¡¯s the matter? Get moving.¡± No. He had definitely heard that voice before. But from where? The person pushed him forward, used more force now to drag him along. Eric fake stumbled forward, and the person took the bait. There was a short moment in time where the person¡¯s grip was weaker, a moment when he didn¡¯t hold him tight enough. A second later, Eric had managed to land a kick backwards, got a slight distance between him and the person. He spun around, saw a gun was pointed at him. He saw the face of the man holding it. His eyes widened. --- Officer Jeff Anger filled every fibre of Jeff¡¯s body. He held his arm straightened, his gun gripped with a tight hand as two fingers were leaned against the cool metal of the trigger. His other hand stabilized the gun as it hovered unmoving mid-air, not even a slight tremble visible in his aim. In front of him stood the man he had wanted to kill for so long. Three fucking years he had thought about that case, had remembered the damn side street where he had caught that son of a bitch. And now he was standing right in front of him. He had him at gunpoint, yet Eric Hoffner didn¡¯t look concerned in the slightest. He was standing in front of Jeff, the arms still cuffed behind his back as his eyes peered into Jeff¡¯s soul with a narrow gaze. Dark, long hair dangled off Eric¡¯s head, his unkempt beard almost as long as his hair. Jeff felt his posture tighten. ¡°It was you! You were that police bastard!¡± ¡°Silence.¡± Jeff¡¯s voice remained calm, but there were hints of suppressed anger. ¡°Ah, ah, ah. This is great. Now I got you in place already. Where are the kids?¡± Is he joking? he thought. No matter how delusional he is, no matter how broken his mind is, even he needs to realize that I can just end his life with the tightening of a muscle. Has he gone mad in there? This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°They aren¡¯t even close to this location. And you will also never see them again. Your life is over, Eric. Now play along before I make you regret it.¡± ¡°So they are alive, eh?¡± Eric asked. He managed a chuckle, then a full-fledged laugh. ¡°Good¡­ good.¡± He made a step towards Jeff. ¡°You want to make me regret it? What are you gonna do, shoot me?¡± He took another step. ¡°Or perhaps you want to run me over again?¡± Jeff played with the thought of pulling the trigger. He could just kill him here and now, show him that he indeed could just gun him down and watch as his brain sprayed the wall like an abstract painting. Eric took another step, was now around one meter away from Jeff. ¡°This is your final warning, Eric,¡± Jeff said, moved the trigger even more. ¡°Come on...¡± Eric stepped closer. ¡°...Shoot. Prove to me I¡¯m immortal. Try to kill a god.¡± Eric took one last step forward, pressed his forehead against the gun. He had the brightest smile on his face, no fibre of his being showing any sign of fear. Jeff felt his heart beat like crazy, but it wasn¡¯t caused by fear. He pressed down the trigger more, barely managed to contain himself. He isn¡¯t worth it, he told himself. He needs to get a real punishment. He doesn¡¯t deserve to die here. ¡°Heh. I knew you coul-¡± Jeff moved his arm with a quick movement, hit Eric¡¯s head with the back of the gun. Eric stumbled, then collapsed to the floor. ¡°Lights out,¡± Jeff said. ¡°You do not deserve the relief of death.¡± --- Jeff pressed down a finger as a small flame lit his cigarette. He took a long drag, tapped against the concrete wall he was leaning against with his other hand. His gun was back in his holster. He was inside of a room without windows. The room was separated in two parts: one in front of the bars, and one behind them. Eric was behind the bars, still unconsciousness. At least he had been for the last hour, but now he started to move again. Jeff had repositioned the handcuffs to in front of Eric, leaving him at least some space to move his arms, which he probably didn¡¯t even deserve He sat up, held his head. Jeff sure hoped that it hurt like hell. ¡°So you''re finally awake, huh?¡± Eric muttered something. Jeff couldn¡¯t quite hear it, but he thought to have heard the word ¡®coward¡¯. ¡°You will stay in here until someone comes to get you. Depending on how fast they are with your case, that should take between one day and one week.¡± Eric got up, threw himself against the metal bars. The metal bars didn¡¯t look very impressed. ¡°You couldn¡¯t do it, right? You couldn¡¯t shoot me.¡± ¡°You do not deserve to die yet.¡± ¡°Just wait until I get out of here and smash your head in with my bare hands. After I kill you, I go for the kids that pitied me, and then I turn off that machine you guys are so proud of. Go ahead, try to stop me.¡± He really has no sense of what¡¯s right or wrong, he thought. How I despise that trait¡­ ¡°I am your new god. And you will bow in front of me once the time comes.¡± ¡°Have fun alone burying yourself in your delusions, Sinner.¡± Jeff turned around, pulled on his cigarette. Then another time. He crossed the room, opened the door and put one foot in the hallway. He hesitated. Jeff closed the door again, stepped back closer to the bars. ¡°One question.¡± Eric spat in Jeff¡¯s direction. ¡°Go ahead, officer.¡± ¡°What was the reason behind all of this? What was the starting point, the lever, the one thing which caused your entire existence to fall apart? Justify yourself, don¡¯t you have some excuse filled backstory you have to tell, something to make people pity you?¡± He pulled on his cigarette, blew the smoke into Eric¡¯s direction. ¡°Come on, tell me.¡± ¡°The last thing I want,¡± Eric said while facing Jeff from the opposite side of the bars, ¡°is to perceive anyone pitying me.¡± He put one hand against a metal bar, gripped it tight. ¡°Tell me your damn excuse.¡± ¡°You people really are all the same, aren¡¯t you? You are always searching for the one reason, the one single thing that pushed someone over the edge. Do you guys really think there is one defined moment in time where someone turns evil? Goes mad and abandons all logic? There is no such thing. You are just deluded by your own systems, caught into a net of pathetic bullshit and lies.¡± Eric hit the metal bar with his fist, continued, ¡°You guys are always so self righteous.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t act like you have any idea of what¡¯s right or wrong.¡± Jeff returned. ¡°You aren¡¯t even worth taking the word ¡®righteous¡¯ into your mouth.¡± ¡°Oh please. You guys are trying to fight a disease by killing the infected. You never even think about what made them go sick in the first place.¡± Eric smiled. ¡°There was no reason. That¡¯s your answer. There never will be one and there never has been. I just did it, that¡¯s all. There is no difference if I justify it, since it would only be an interpretation of what¡¯s right and what wrong. There is no right and wrong. All which counts are opinions, and on which side you¡¯re standing on.¡± ¡°So you want to tell me what you have done was right?¡± Jeff felt himself tighten up. ¡°There is no difference between right and wrong. You kill people for what you think is right, and so do I. And every single person that ever killed someone else thinks it¡¯s the right thing to do, so how can you judge me?¡± Jeff took another drag, realized that there was only filter left. ¡°Do not, under any circumstance, compare me with you.¡± ¡°The only thing that separates us right now is on which side of the bars we are standing.¡± Jeff bit down on the filter, moved his arm with a quick movement. A loud bang echoed on the smooth prison walls, was followed by a surprised yelp. Then, the smell of iron filled the air, as Eric fell to the floor. --- 26 - Consequences Officer Jeff The echo remained inside of Jeff¡¯s ears for a few seconds, ringing sharply inside of his head as any other sound was drowned out by the pressure of it. He looked at his own arm, then the pressed down index finger on the trigger. All the tension that had built up over the last few minutes had vanished in an instant. Eric was lying on the ground, a small puddle of blood shaping underneath him as he held his right knee with both hands. His face was tensed up and swollen in anger. He grunted out, his eyes staring up at Jeff. Jeff guided his weapon back into its holster with slow hands. He then just turned around while ignoring the screams and shouts behind him. Eric screamed things in uncontrollable anger, but it was as if all of it was filtered out of Jeff¡¯s brain immediately. The words went right through him. The only thing he could think about was Eric¡¯s familiarity with ¡®her¡¯. And as Eric¡¯s screams finally ceased, Jeff opened the door once again. He stopped. ¡°No God crumbles upon the power of a mere bullet.¡± And he closed the door behind him. --- Jeff was leaning against a wall in his office, which was dimly lit by a single computer screen and a desk lamp. He was smoking to relieve stress, the night outside of the window dark and icy. The stars outside were clearly visible, but his gaze was focused on the picture which had been standing on his office desk earlier. He had taken it out of the frame, examined it closely. The picture showed a family. There was him... much younger than he was now and way before he had started smoking. His eyes depicted an amount of joy he didn¡¯t manage to recreate for over a decade now. The picture also showed his two daughters, both around 5 years old back at the time. They would be around 20 now, he thought. There was one more person in the picture. The face of the person wasn¡¯t visible though, a small round hole where the head of the woman had once been. Jeff had burned it away with a lighter years ago, but he very well remembered every little detail of her stupid face. The way that Sinner talked... It sounded so similar to the way she had talked back then. He sighed. ¡°I will never forget you. My two angels¡­¡± He put one finger on the part of the picture his daughters were on. ¡°The future will be a bright one. A future where people like your mother never get the chance to do such terrible things. Eric Hoffner will be the case that sets everything in motion. And then, someday...¡± A single tear hit the picture. ¡°¡­a-and then you will finally be able to rest in peace.¡± Jeff suppressed his emotions, peeked towards his desk. Multiple empty bottles were decorating it, his work related stuff thrown off and spread across the floor like an abstract painting. A single bottle still had something left inside of it. Orange liquid reflected the light of the moon. He should feel fulfilled right now, but it felt like he was now even emptier than before. Jeff stumbled back to his desk, put the picture back in the frame with as much care as possible. He then lit a cigarette... ...and poured himself yet another drink. --- Jeff wiped a small line of dust off his desk, his work related stuff laying neatly arranged and sorted on top of it. The windows were open and the air in his office was fresh. Multiple binders laid in front of him, one of them already opened up. On the side without windows, a TV screen rested on the wall. It knocked on the door. Jeff pressed a button on the side of his desk, and three teenagers stepped inside. Two males and one female. Jeff looked up and down from the opened binder in front of him, compared pictures with reality. ¡°Good morning, officer,¡± Jim said. Jeff just nodded, still comparing. It seemed that Jim had changed in appearance quite a lot. His hair was combed, and he looked less skinny. Around his neck was a silver necklace, partly hidden since he was wearing it under his shirt. They sure look like they have grown in the last three years, he thought. No wonder, they had to mature faster than children should have to. I hope these three were able to enjoy their childhood at least a little bit. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Please take a seat,¡± he said, gestured towards three chairs which he had put in the middle of the room. They were facing the TV. They sat down. ¡°Thanks again for coming over that fast. I know it must be hard for you, but I promise the hardest part is over now. After we are finished here, we will finally be able to apply the proper punishment to Mr. Hoffner. Your data has been a great help in the last three years by the way.¡± ¡°We just want this to be finally over. Hen deserves to rest in peace,¡± Anna said, appeared to be moving around searching for a comfortable position in the chair. Her hair was long and open. She was wearing a necklace as well. It appeared to be fitting to the one Jim was wearing. Jeff felt one corner of his mouth go up a millimeter. ¡°Alright. Let me just get the office stuff out of the way so we can begin. I need to ask some questions as well as read some info. You most likely know the most already. It is purely for legal reasons. Is that alright?¡± They nodded. ¡°Okay.¡± Jeff rearranged a stack of paper, which was already neatly positioned on his desk. He put it in front of him, started reading: ¡°This conversation, as well as the viewing afterwards, will be recorded for legal reasons. Are you okay with that?¡± ¡°Yes,¡± they said. ¡°After the legal content is out of the way, I will show you the recording of the final attempt made by Eric Hoffner trying to beat ¡®Sinner¡¯s Game¡¯. ¡®Sinner¡¯s Game¡¯ is a simulation by the C.U.A used to reveal the true intentions of the criminal as well as show their real behaviour. The Sinner is confronted with memories from people close to the victims to find out if he shows any sign of regret and if he can change or not. In this special case, you three were the closest remaining people since the whole family was murdered, therefore we asked you if it would be okay if we would use your memories instead. You said yes. Your three consciousnesses were then copied and used to create memories as close as possible to the real Reich family as well as simulated copies of you we used inside of the game, which were set up to interact with the Sinner. After living a short amount of time in Hendrick¡¯s perspective, the Sinner was then confronted with challenges. Every time the Sinner failed, the game restarted, so he needed to reveal his true self in order to get let out of the simulation again. The simulation succeeded in finding out who Eric Hoffner really was. These informations were then used as a definitive prove to form a sentence against him. You are going to see an edited version of his successful attempt, the one where he beat the game. Every important confession is included in there, as well as more than enough examples of his flawed behaviour patterns. Afterwards you will be able to hear the sentence which has been prepared by the C.U.A. and will be able to decide if you accept it or want it adjusted. After your opinion has been officially stated, the process is finished and actions can be taken. Did you understand all of that? Any questions?¡± There was silence for a moment. All three of them nodded in agreement. ¡°Also, one more thing.¡± Jeff picked up the remote for the TV. ¡°Some of the events happening in this tape might be very unsettling and brutal. You have the right to decide if you want the censored version or not.¡± Jack, who had remained mostly silent until now, turned on the chair to face Jeff, said, ¡°I want to see the whole thing. I don¡¯t want to miss any detail to make the right decisions later.¡± The voice of the dark skinned-male was calm, yet Jeff spotted an unsettling stiffness in his movements. Jeff knew very well how hard it was to stay calm in a situation like this. ¡°I agree,¡± Jim said. ¡°Hendrick had to endure so much. He deserves us not averting our eyes out of fear.¡± Anna nodded. Jeff sighed. ¡°Very well.¡± He pressed a button on the remote, and the TV flashed from darkness to light. Like a night-sky sprinkled with stars, black and white pixels clashed with each other as the TV searched for the signal. The tape started playing. On the screen, Hendrick jolted awake from a nightmare. --- Jeff swung open the cell door with a loud creak. The heavy iron only moved with applied force, but the mere thought of talking to Eric again filled Jeff with more than enough force to open all the doors in the entire prison at once if necessary. He stepped inside. Eric was leaning against a wall close to the metal bars, his clothes partly painted red from dry blood. They made eye contact. Eric smiled. Jeff didn¡¯t. ¡°I missed you,¡± Eric said. ¡°You know, after all the pain that I had to endure to become what I am now, this little shot wound your anger issues caused is nothing.¡± ¡°Your sentence is through. All the necessary preparations have been made. I¡¯ve come to get you out of here.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± ¡°Your lucky¡­ or unlucky, depending on how you see it. The sentence you would have originally gotten got changed off from a death sentence to life long in prison.¡± Eric pushed himself off the wall, had troubles with walking. He moved closer to the bars, grabbed one with each hand. ¡°Just another proof of my inevitability.¡± ¡°There is one condition that was added, though.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°You will see that once you arrive at your new cell¡­¡± Jeff pulled a key out of his uniform, unlocked the door of the cell. ¡°It seems that you really can¡¯t kill me.¡± Eric managed an honest, bright smile. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you won¡¯t have to suffer for much longer.¡± Jeff gripped the key more tightly, put it back away, and opened the door. ¡°There is one more thing that has to be done before we can bring you away.¡± He gestured towards the door and it opened as two more guards stepped inside of the room, awaiting Jeff¡¯s orders. ¡°Hm?¡± Eric rolled his shoulders. ¡°You want to try killing me again, or what?¡± Jeff shook his head no. ¡°The founder wants to see you.¡± Eric¡¯s smile vanished. ¡°He has something important to tell you.¡± --- 27 - Collect, Unite, Ascent Officer Jeff The Founder sat behind his desk, his white hair neatly arranged as always. He closed a drawer, had checked if something was still in there. He raised his gaze, met with Jeff¡¯s. Jeff was leaning against an off wall next to a window, tapped with one finger against the concrete wall. ¡°Then everything is sorted out, I suppose?¡± the Founder asked. ¡°Yes.¡± The old man pressed a button on his desk, and the office door swung open. The two guards from earlier forcefully shoved Eric inside, his hands still cuffed as he had trouble walking straight. Jeff thought it looked kind of pathetic, and something inside of him hoped that Eric would suffer permanent damage from his injury. The guards pushed down Eric on a rather comfortable looking chair, then stepped back, waiting. Eric hesitated, waited for what the old man was about to say. The left corner of Jeff¡¯s mouth managed half a smile. A glass bottle ¨C which had been standing on top of the Founder¡¯s desk ¨C was used to pour an orange looking liquid in two glassed which stood in front of Eric and the old man. They both remained silent. The bottle was put back to where it had been standing earlier. More silence. ¡°Why did you bring me here?¡± The Founder remained silent. ¡°To reveal your big master plan? Are you going to tell me that all of this was planned and I am so wrong yet again? Is that what you are trying to do here?¡± Silence. ¡°Listen up, you ol-¡± ¡°Drink.¡± ¡°¡­¡± The Founder picked up the glass, held it in Eric¡¯s direction. Eric tilted his head slightly, his body language showing signs of distress. Jeff held his hand close to his holster, even though he was pretty sure that he wouldn¡¯t have to use what was inside of it. But... just in case. The Founder didn¡¯t seem bothered by Eric not picking up the glass, lifted it in a sign of politeness before drinking some out of it. He put it back down, his face as relaxed as always. ¡°Eric. I am here to thank you.¡± ¡°What?¡± Eric scratched his thumb with his middle finger, peered around as if to find out if his ears had deceived him. ¡°You have done well. Your case has quite the reputation by now, and we are going to deliver the satisfying conclusion of it to the public. After everything has been made public, everyone will be able to see what you have done in there, and it will set up the foundation for the expansion of our company all over the world.¡± ¡°Go ahead, warn the world about what I am capable of.¡± Eric shuffled around in the chair, leaned forward as he made eye contact with the Founder. His hard expression met the gentle one of the Founder. Jeff could feel the tension that was building up, but it was as if the Founder made it disappear as soon as it arose, like snuffing out a small flame. ¡°The sooner they learn to fear me, the better. So you are actually doing me a favour.¡± That whole playing god bullshit slowly but surely got on Jeff¡¯s nerves. Eric was so sure about himself, but it couldn¡¯t be true, right? Jeff recalled the moment when he had his gun pressed against Eric¡¯s forehead. A part of him wondered if Eric would have died back then if he had pulled the trigger. But then he was ripped out of his thoughts by Eric¡¯s laughter. ¡°You know, it¡¯s quite funny how you cling yourself to the imagination that you are doing the right thing here. You¡¯re trying so hard to be the good guys, but what you are doing inside of the game is far worse than anything I have ever done to anyone. You also enabled me to do far worse things inside of the game than I would have ever done on the outside, so I guess thanks for that. Yes, I really need to thank you. You enabled me to become what I am now: a being beyond your comprehension.¡± Eric picked up the glass, downed it in one go. Something inside of Jeff kind of hoped that it was poisoned, but he knew the Founder to be smarter than that. Eric slammed the empty glass against the wall next to Jeff. It smashed into a thousand pieces. But Jeff didn¡¯t even move a muscle. ¡°Don¡¯t you dare let your guard down back there, you with your sad little puppy eyes, which you try to hide behind your rough facade. Don¡¯t forget, you won¡¯t fool anyone with your little act. And don¡¯t ever forget that you are the one who caught me, which also means that you are responsible for everything that is about to happen in the future as well as everything that happened inside of the game.¡± Usually, Jeff would have exploded by now. He had never been good at keeping himself at bay in situations like this, which was part of the reason why he had lost his job as a police officer a while after catching Eric. He had ripped it all apart, had felt the insignificance of his actions since they couldn¡¯t change the past. But now he was surprised by how calm he felt. Something had changed. Had he been afraid of Eric earlier? No¡­ there had been something different. The anger he had against him, the steam that had build up every time Eric had raised his voice, it all seemed to be unnecessary now. There was no reason to be angered by him, no reason to shout or to scream at him. It was all from no use. He saw him for what he truly was. The only thing he could do now was to pity him. Pity how sad his existence and views were. Pity for what he had become. He wasn¡¯t a god; he was the being furthest away from it. But there was no need to tell him. He was supposed to find that out himself. Jeff stopped tapping his finger against the wall. Eric realized that Jeff wasn¡¯t going to react, turned back towards the Founder. ¡°You created a machine to do good ¨C do what you define as right ¨C but at the end you created a being which feasts upon the evil from the people you sent into it. You created a growing system of hate, of anger and of pain, and it will one day fall out of your control. It really is ironic how you are not capable of realizing your own delusion. At the end, you became the very thing you swore to destroy.¡± The Founder waited for Eric to stop talking, didn¡¯t address his words. Jeff had now realized that this was probably the best way of approaching Eric. He picked up his glass, took another sip out of it, then put it back down. Even though his being was calm, his authority hung like a veil of smoke in the air, clung to everything around it. ¡°You really still think I don¡¯t know the purpose of the C.U.A project? You are aware that I am the one who programmed it, am I right?¡± ¡°If that is true, then you are truly worse than me. Maybe you should put yourself inside of that machine then.¡± ¡°In a way, I already am inside of it. But I¡¯m sure you have realized that by now.¡± Jeff frowned in thought. Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation. ¡°It does not matter to me what happens inside of the system, Eric,¡± the old man said. ¡°Like you have already stated earlier, it is not real, not even a little. The people inside of there feel pain, so what? If people get hurt in shows or books, do people care? Does it even matter if at the end nothing of it manages to have an effect on their reality? I don¡¯t think so. We will make a good job at choosing which details are to be made public and which not, and therefore the system will be seen as good and not evil.¡± The Founder¡¯s lips now carried a bright smile; a smile which almost looked a little too big for his wrinkled face. ¡°We will be the ones who choose about what is evil and what is not in the future, and we will grow to the point where we will be finally able to create a world without sin.¡± ¡°I¡­ did nothing wrong,¡± Eric said. ¡°There is nothing I ever did wrong.¡± ¡°I doubt that,¡± the Founder said. ¡°Every time you killed someone, it was in reality a scream for help, an act of silent suicide.¡± ¡°You¡­ all of you¡­¡± Eric clenched his hands into fists. ¡°You are all pathetic.¡± ¡°I think it is your time to go now, Eric.¡± Eric stood up, his hands heavily shaking as he barely managed to keep his balance. He didn¡¯t bother that his knee was still heavily injured, seemingly ignoring the pain. ¡°Shut up. I tear off your skin, you piece of shit.¡± The two guards had already grabbed Eric, held him in place as he struggled to break free. Jeff was still leaning against the wall like before, but he had taken his hand off his holster minutes ago. It was over. ¡°You are the one who is pathetic, Eric,¡± the Founder said. ¡°You will go down in history as a coward, as a person who abuses others and uses every excuse he gets to run away from his guilt, when in reality, he just can¡¯t stop running away from himself.¡± Eric struggled more, now starting to shout words and threats at the Founder. The old man stayed calm, and the smile on his face grew a little wider. ¡°Your attempts to keep me inside of the game were pathetic. Did you really think you could fool me like that? It is now only a matter of time until I fucking destroy everything that was ever important to you.¡± ¡°It is sad, truly. You could have had everything you wanted if you had decided to stay inside of the game. The copy of you would have left, and you would have been immortal. In there, you would have been able to kill as many people as you wanted to, to rampage to your heart¡¯s content, and to kind of become a god. But out here, there is nothing you can do to escape from your sins anymore.¡± The Founder placed his hand on a drawer under his desk ¨C the one he had checked earlier. He pulled something roundish out of it, got up. ¡°It is time for you to accept what you truly are.¡± Eric continued struggling, but it had no use. He couldn¡¯t move away as the guards kept his head fixed forward. He repeated with a shaky voice, ¡°I did nothing wrong. I am no sinner¡­ I am a god. I¡­ didn¡¯t do anything wrong!¡± Eric attempted to turn away as the Founder placed the round object in his two hands, moved it towards Eric¡¯s face. It was the mask Jeff had already seen inside of the recording of ¡®Sinner¡¯s Game¡¯. The Founder placed the mask on Eric¡¯s face, who was very dissatisfied by what was going on. Eric¡¯s shouts and screams became muffled as the mask was put on his face. They probably only were pleads of suppressed anger and build up tension at this point anyways. The Founder moved close to Eric, raised his chin with one hand. His smile vanished. ¡°It is now time to go, Sinner.¡± And as the guards started dragging the Sinner out, he added, ¡°Soon you will be pitied by the whole world.¡± --- ¡°But only this one time.¡± ¡°Yea¡­ of course,¡± Jeff said, pressed down the lighter at the end of a cigarette. He was positioned across from the Founder, the both of them sitting in front of half emptied glasses filled with an orange liquid. Jeff leaned back against the chair, took a long drag of victory. Yet, somehow, he felt like something which had been there earlier was now gone. ¡°And how does it feel, Jeff? Do you think you can finally rest now?¡± Jeff sighed, gestured with cigarette in hand, ¡°To be honest, I don¡¯t think that I will ever be able to fully rest from what has happened.¡± There was a short silence between the two of them. ¡°You think he will keep that mask on?¡± Jeff asked. ¡°No, he will throw it off his face as soon as he enters his cell.¡± ¡°Then why even put it on him in the first place?¡± ¡°We will keep it inside of his prison cell. Maybe, one day, it will be from use again.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°You don¡¯t feel satisfied, do you?¡± Jeff pulled on his cigarette, frowned. ¡°It feels like you are emptier than before, right? I have been at this point before. Your driving force is gone, the means to an end you put up in front of you. And since you have no goal anymore, it feels like you have lost even though you have won.¡± ¡°What is your point?¡± Jeff exhaled. ¡°You are going to need something new that drives you forward now. You have been waiting to finish this case, I know that, but there is still a lot more work for you to do here. I mean¡­ if you feel like doing that. And also¡­ maybe something besides work wouldn¡¯t hurt. Something to work for, you know. Something which isn¡¯t based on revenge.¡± Jeff frowned again, but kept his voice calm as he said, ¡°Looks like I got no other choice, huh? It¡¯s not like the police would accept me back anyways.¡± He sighed. ¡°You might not be a police officer anymore, but still an ¡®officer¡¯ of our company. You know, Jeff, we will need someone to go into public with the case. I want you to do that. Just some interviews and comparable matters. I know you don¡¯t like standing in the center of attention, but it will help our company quite a lot.¡± Jeff let out a slightly annoyed but agreeing grunt, took another drag of his cigarette. ¡°I mean, I owe you a favour for letting me smoke in your office, so I guess I have to do it.¡± ¡°Splendid.¡± ¡°So, is that everything to talk about? There are still some other things I have to do today.¡± ¡°Yes, but actually one more thing before you go.¡± The Founder pulled something out of a drawer, placed a sheet of paper in front of Jeff. Jeff squinted at the piece of paper. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°A letter which legally makes you the Co-leader of the C.U.A.¡± ¡°Wait, what? No¡­ I just started working here, I ca-¡± ¡°There is no one more suitable for that position than you, mister Grimes. And it will work perfectly with the public and the case.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°Jeff¡­ Let¡¯s make a deal.¡± Jeff raised his gaze from the paper, saw an outstretched arm in front of him. ¡°Let us change the world together.¡± He thought about the words of the Founder. Having a new purpose... a goal besides revenge. Now that he thought about it, there wasn¡¯t much which had driven him in the past besides it, and it indeed felt like the words of the old man carried truth with them. Jeff hesitated for a moment. Then, he shook the Founder¡¯s hand, said: ¡°Fine. Let¡¯s move towards ascension together.¡± ¡°Splendid.¡± The old man beamed. ¡°Collect, Unite, Ascent.¡± Jeff nodded. ¡°Collect, Unite, Ascent.¡± --- 28 - Beyond the Heavens 2 Years later Jack Fast fingers danced across the keyboard. Jack had found his rhythm, typed away as line after line flowed out of his mind right onto the screen. It was like a trance, a flow state he only managed to achieve when he was inside one of his worlds, united with his characters. He peeked over to his notes ¨C a pile of small squared pieces of paper ¨C random scribbles and fast handwriting all over them. No one besides him would be able to navigate through the mess on his desk, but all of it had its defined place, and he knew where what was laying without even looking. One note caught his attention. He stopped typing, his hands hovering over the keyboard like an eagle over its prey. The note was written in red marker, had several circles around it. ¡°Oh yea¡­ still need to change that off.¡± Right as he was about to return to his typing, the bell rang. Usually, Jack would have been annoyed by the disturbance, but this time it was different. His parents were on holiday for the next two weeks, and he already knew who was on the door. He got up, headed out of his room, and went downstairs to the main entrance. He opened the door, was surprised to only see one and not two familiar faces. Jim was standing in front of him, both hands pointing into his direction as he held him at gunpoint. ¡°Damn, you would have been dead right away. Didn¡¯t I teach you better than that?¡± Jim asked, his trademark smile on his face. ¡°How foolish of me,¡± Jack said, smiled as well. ¡°Where¡¯s Ann? Did she find someone with better finger-gunning skills than you?¡± ¡°Very funny. Nah, she joins later, has some tournament to attend too. Won¡¯t take too long, I suppose.¡± It still felt weird that they weren¡¯t in school anymore. They still had around 3 weeks of free time left before they had to go out into the wide world, do the things adults had to do¡­ whatever that was. Now that he thought about it, Jim had also changed quite a lot over the last few years. Not in a bad way, just appearance and some other stuff. Jack had to admit the longer hair really fit him, something in between the total mess of a haircut he had back in fifth grade and the too stern one he had worn later. But he wasn¡¯t here to think about chances, mights and maybes. There was more than enough time for that later on. ¡°Does she still try-hard?¡± Jack asked. ¡°I thought she did want to take it a little bit slower.¡± ¡°She is not playing for scores anymore. Just for fun, so don¡¯t worry.¡± ¡°Ah, alright.¡± He waved towards behind him. Jim walked in without Jack even saying a word. ¡°Hows your writing going?¡± Jim pulled off his shoes without even using his hands, stretched out a little. ¡°Good... until you arrived. I decided to change off the main char¡¯s name.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Jim stopped. ¡°Why though? Guts is a very cool name in my opinion.¡± ¡°Don¡¯t you think we knew someone who deserves it more to be the one to give the main character his name?¡± Jack¡¯s lips narrowed. ¡°Someone who went through hell alone.¡± Jim¡¯s eyes had dimmed a little, but through the dark shone a certain light. ¡°I¡¯m sure he would have been honoured.¡± Jack nodded. ¡°Ah, now I remember what I was about to ask you. You heard the news?¡± ¡°Hm?¡± Jack raised a brow. ¡°The C.U.A will soon be expanding over the whole world. They got tons of funds and they said that they are really hitting it big now. Seems like their system will one day get well implemented into our society.¡± ¡°Ah, nice. Glad to hear the world will be a little bit safer in the future.¡± Jack closed the door behind him, added, ¡°Oh, you heard about the failed attempt to reach space?¡± ¡°Again?¡± Jim sighed. ¡°It really is just bad luck at this point. For how long have they tried to leave the atmosphere now?¡± ¡°They stated something about the chances for every attempt so far to fail is something about 1 to 1000 so¡­ yea, quite unlucky I suppose. Seems like the stars don¡¯t want to be travelled for now.¡± ¡°Hm.¡± Jim started walking along the hallway, said, ¡°Sorry by the way for throwing your planning around. I know we wanted to continue our Dungeons and Dwagons campaign as soon as possible. You wanna play something else until Ann is here?¡± ¡°Sure bro, try to defend your ¡®mister-number-one-of-the-friend-group¡¯ title.¡± As Jack entered his room around 2 seconds after Jim, Jim had already kneeled down in front of the console, tried to get the cartridge working. ¡°But we will play the campaign later. You have a giant grammar crow to slay.¡± Jim ¨C who had just blown into the cartridge ¨C snorted in laughter. ¡°No fucking way you actually spend your time creating a character sheet for that one.¡± ¡°You bet I did.¡± Jim put the cartridge back into the console. This time, the game loaded. ¡°Hehe¡­ works every time.¡± Jim tossed a controller, Jack caught it. ¡°Ready to get three stocked, Jacky boy?¡± ¡°Bring it on.¡± --- A few hours later Co-Leader Jeff A cloud of smoke travelled across the rather spacious office, disappeared out through the opened window and into the clear night. It only took a short moment of time until it had dissolved into the cool summer-air. He had to admit that he slowly started getting used to this. The most things in his old office had been moved over into his new one at this point. He liked it like that, everything in a certain place, so he immediately knew where what was. Alphabetically sorted files, binders and so on. Besides the room being about twice the size compared to his old one, there really wasn¡¯t that much change to talk about. Yet, the feeling which clung to it had somehow changed entirely. The light was rather dim, a desk lamp shining some light on the dark wooden desk Jeff was sitting in front of, a PC monitor hooked up to the C.U.A database resting on top of it. It was a slow shift. Jeff¡¯s gaze wandered around as his nose exhaled some smoke. At his right, a picture frame and an award were standing. The award was something which looked rather poorly printed out with a 3D-printer. In fact, he knew the printer where the award had come out of. It wasn¡¯t all that pretty, but he sure wanted to keep it. The text on it read ¡®one year sober¡¯ in comic sans. Just behind the award rested the old picture of his family. The side of the picture which had included his ex-wife had been ripped off entirely, was now replaced by someone else. Jeff¡¯s eyes stopped wandering for a moment. He looked at the female in the picture, smiled. There was a knock on the door. He twitched in surprise. Jeff put the cigarette out and hid his ashtray in the usual spot. ¡°Yea, come in.¡± He moved one hand through the air as if to cut through the smoke, hoped that it would dissolve fast enough. Who even wanted to speak to him at this time of the day? It was around 10 minutes until his shift would end. The door opened, and a female stepped inside. As Jeff recognized her, he felt himself calm down a little. He noticed that he was smiling again. The person was slightly out of breath, almost as if she had just ran a marathon along the hallways. She rearranged her C.U.A uniform, made a failed effort to appear calm. ¡°You know that you don¡¯t need to hide that you are smoking in here, right?¡± she asked. ¡°It¡¯s not like everyone knows that already anyways. Also¡­ it is your office, remember?¡± ¡°Oh¡­ right.¡± Jeff hesitated, then put the ashtray back on his desk. ¡°What brings you here? It is like 5 minutes until the end of our shift. Did the coffee machine malfunction again?¡± Jeff pulled the half finished cigarette out of the tray, put it back into his mouth. He started fetching for a lighter in his pockets. Where had he put that damn thing again? ¡°It¡¯s important.¡± Jane pushed the glasses on her rather roundish face back up the bridge of her nose, added, ¡°It¡¯s about cell 741.¡± Jeff tried hard to not roll his eyes. It always had to be him. He had a lot of joy seeing him being locked away, yet he still managed to be a pain in the ass, even behind bars and underground. ¡°What happened? Did he refuse to eat again? I swear to god, if that motherf-¡± ¡°You lost.¡± ¡°What?¡± Jeff finally caught the lighter, pressed it down to create a small flame which he led to the end of the cigarette. ¡°Don¡¯t you remember? The bet a couple of months ago.¡± Jeff shrugged, lit the cigarette. ¡°You have to stop doing that now.¡± ¡°Do what?¡± Jeff inhaled. Jane pointed at the cigarette. Jeff halted, then put the lighter away and got up. He took the half-finished cigarette out of his mouth, exhaled and put it out in the ashtray. He marched over to the wall to his left, grabbed the key for cell number 741. ¡°Lets go,¡± he said. Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°I need to see it with my own eyes. ¡° --- Jim was gently shaken out of his dream. He felt soft, warm, comfortable. As he opened his eyes, he saw Anna¡¯s face close to his as one of her arms caressed his left cheek. Jim let out a confused sound, something closely resembling a tired bear. ¡°Sorry for waking you up.¡± A few lines of hair were more or less laying across Anna¡¯s face. It was clear she had been asleep a few moments ago, too. ¡°Jack is gone.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°He¡¯s not in his bed. I just went to the bathroom and then realized he isn¡¯t here anymore.¡± Jim sat up on the mattress which was placed on the carpet floor of Jack¡¯s room. About half a meter higher, Jack¡¯s bed indeed appeared to be empty. He got out of the bed, yawned. ¡°I¡¯ll be right back.¡± ¡°Where are you going?¡± Anna asked. ¡°Outside.¡± Jim turned to the window. There wasn¡¯t a single cloud in the sky. ¡°I think I know where he is.¡± --- Jeff was pacing along the hallway, wide fast steps moving him forward. Jane had a hard time keeping up with him, even though she tried her best staying at least slightly behind him. On the left and the right ¨C every couple of meters ¨C were thick metal doors with a small window embedded into each of them. The corridor stretched on for what looked like hundreds of meters. Jeff counted the numbers on the right side: 699, 701, 703 All cells down here were sound proof. Not a single noise could get out of them, so even if the people inside of there would make as much noise as they were capable off, nothing would be heard from the outside. They were also located deep enough underground for no sound to ever reach the surface. Even though it was already rather deep down, there were still a handful of floors underneath this one. Mostly important stuff, and of course the server room with the most important piece of the C.U.A. project. 721, 723, 725¡­ Jeff could feel his heartbeat fasten. He had managed to remain calm until now with counting, but even getting close to the cell made his blood begin to boil. This time though, he wasn¡¯t boiling with annoyance. This time, he was boiling with excitement. 735¡­ And now, it was finally time. 737¡­ It had taken so long. 739¡­ Jeff arrived at the cell. It didn¡¯t appear different from the other ones. In fact, all of them looked about the same on the inside as well. And even though cell number 741 looked like the others, the scent it gave off stung in Jeff¡¯s nose. An odour of rotten sweetness hung in the air like a rainbow consisting of different shades of grey. He hesitated to look, turned to see Jane. He felt his heartbeat slow down a little. She just nodded, said, ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you can just unlock the door.¡± Jeff¡¯s lips tightened. He fetched the key out of his pocket. He put it inside of the door, turned it sideways. The lock inside of the heavy door creaked as it slid to the side. He forced the door open. --- As soon as he opened the door, the smell of sweetness, as well as some other scents, increased in intensity by a lot. It was a penetrating stench, strong enough for him to immediately cover his nose. As soon as Jeff was able to look inside of the room, he froze. His whole facade dropped. His facial expression washed from the usual hard shell to something softer which he usually kept hidden underneath. He took a single step inside of the room, examined it closely. On the ground, piling high all over the room, were small boxes filled with half rotten strawberries in varying states of decay. They were spread across the floor, smeared on the walls, as well as piling up in one corner of the room. Jeff¡¯s view fixed at something in the center of the room. ¡°Did he put it on himself?¡± he asked. At the center, from a pipe close to the ceiling, Eric Hoffner¡¯s lifeless body dangled with a belt around his neck. He didn¡¯t move, yet Jeff didn¡¯t feel like stepping closer towards him just yet. Eric¡¯s face was hidden behind the white mask of the Sinner, the static smile staring right towards him. ¡°He did put it on himself,¡± Jane said. ¡°It seems like he finally had enough.¡± Jeff regained control over his facial expression. Jane stepped further inside of the room while holding a red piece of cloth in front of her nose. She moved to the Sinner, pulled off the mask. ¡°I think you should take a closer look at this.¡± Jeff, who had been looking at the mask once again, hesitated for a moment before nodding. He made his way over to the corpse, looked at it. ¡°Seems like he had finally lost it for good, huh?¡± Jane had turned the mask, held it towards him. He barely realized it, picked it up. Jeff had spend the last few seconds just staring at Eric¡¯s face, expressionless and robbed of all the joy and smiles it had carried in the past. He had almost expected him to smile underneath the mask, but that wasn¡¯t the case. Jeff turned the mask, saw the dozens upon dozens of smiles scratched into its otherwise flat inner side. But there was something else, written in messy text close to where the smile would be on the other side. ¡°Is this the end?¡± Jane asked. Jeff hesitated, grunted. ¡°If I am no god, then there is no one left I can pray to,¡± Jane said. ¡°...¡± ¡°What even is that supposed to mean?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know if this is an ¡®end¡¯,¡± Jeff said. He carefully put the mask back on the Sinner¡¯s face. ¡°But it most certainly is a new beginning.¡± --- ¡°I expected to find you here.¡± Jack sat up, looked down the roof of the tree-house he was currently sitting on top of. It was resting inside of a rather old looking oak tree, its beams already aged and darkened by the elements and currents of nature over the years. Jim remembered that Jack had told him years ago that this tree-house had once been the one of his father, the tree it was built into rooting in their garden since generations. To Jack, it was the only spot on the whole planet where he could get close to the stars. ¡°How come?¡± Jack asked as Jim started climbing up the makeshift ladder and made a rather risky but accustomed jump to grab the roof¡¯s ledge. Jim grunted, pulled himself up. The air was a little chilly up there, but refreshing as well. Maybe it was because he was still wearing his sleeping clothes. Jack shared that style, though. Jim pointed upwards. ¡°Still planning to catch them one day?¡± ¡°Yea¡­ right,¡± Jack said, but the tone of his voice betrayed his smile, revealed a glint of concern. Jim laid down next to him, viewed upon the cloudless heavens above their heads. ¡°Something is different than usual, am I right?¡± Jack nodded. ¡°You want to tell me?¡± Jack laid back down as well. His gaze was focused on the stars, but it almost seemed as if he looked right through them; as if he was searching for what laid hidden beyond them. ¡°Jim¡­ You still think about Hen from time to time?¡± ¡°Daily. He deserves to be remembered.¡± Jim turned his head, couldn¡¯t quite read Jack¡¯s expression. ¡°You know,¡± Jim said, ¡°It¡¯s not like we are ever going to forget any of the events which happened in the past, but we did the right thing. We will never see the Sinner again, and he won¡¯t be able to hurt anyone, either. Sure, that won¡¯t heal the damage he has already caused, but it is still a win for us. Hen can rest in peace now, and we should remember him as a friend, not a corpse.¡± Jim paused for a moment, searched for the right words. ¡°It¡¯s time to move on, Jack.¡± There was a moment of silence, the wind gently brushing over the surrounding leaves. The sky towered tall above it all, the stars unmoving and in their usual place. Finally, Jack broke the silence, said, ¡°I lately spend a lot of time thinking about what the other Jack said. The one in the game, I mean. The things he said in the location similar to this one¡­ and also, what the Jim in the game said about reality.¡± ¡°The stars above our heads are a proof that-¡± ¡°How can you know that they are real?¡± Jack asked. Jim stopped talking, thought about Jack¡¯s words. So this had bothered him all this time? He is able to create stars himself by moving a pen over paper, so he shouldn¡¯t worry about powers beyond his comprehension, Jim thought. He should rather focus on reality on his scale, which is the only option he has. But before he could say anything, Jack had already continued: ¡°Only because they appear to be real doesn¡¯t mean they are. We just look at things out of reach for our grasp, feeling certain of things that have never changed before, even though we can¡¯t say for sure if they might as well just change one day. Maybe this reality has been created like the game as well. Created by a higher power which set up all the things in the way they are supposed to play out, pulling the strings in a place beyond the stars. We can never be certain, never be sure, and that really bothers me.¡± Jim swallowed, put a hand on Jack¡¯s shoulder. Jack broke his gaze towards the stars, made eye contact with Jim. ¡°Sorry, dude,¡± he said. ¡°You know, I always go too deep on stuff like that.¡± Jim didn¡¯t bother to address the last bit, said, ¡°Does it really matter?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°If it is real or not, I mean¡­¡± Jim got up, reached with one palm towards the stars. ¡°As hard as I try to grab them, as much as I will reach for them, I can never touch them.¡± Jack tilted his head. ¡°Yea¡­ I mean¡­¡± ¡°Dude, it doesn¡¯t matter. We don¡¯t need to touch the stars. Look, the stars being real is not important as long as they are real to us. The emotions and memories we have with them are real, and that makes them real. Is there someone or something who or which created them? Most likely. But at the end, it only pushes away the answer one step further. Who created the God which created the stars? And who created the God of that God? Does it really matter to us? I don¡¯t think so. We should focus on what we can control, what we can influence.¡± Jack got up as well. ¡°So does an end to all of this even exist? A line of gods upon gods, creating their universes, layers upon layers of existence and non-existence on top of each other spiralling till eternity.¡± He reached for the stars as well, but it was a half fledged attempt. ¡°I really wonder what is at the end of it all,¡± he added. ¡°Guess we never know, huh?¡± Jim asked. Jack sighed. It was a heavy sigh, but Jim felt like Jack had uncovered something he had hidden away for a long time. There was once again a moment of silence. ¡°I recently asked myself if all the time I spend escaping from reality in the past playing video games, role-playing, writing and reading really meant anything,¡± Jack said. ¡°In the past, I felt like running away from the real world, escaping from the boredom, from the repeating days at school, the boring responsibilities, all of it. I wondered if it all had meant something, if it had been worth it, or if I only wasted my life away with things that weren¡¯t even real.¡± Jack put his hand down again. Has he accepted the stars to be out of his reach? ¡°I think what you said really makes sense, Jim. It was real all the time, all of it, because we made it real. Our emotions as well as our experiences were real, and therefore, what we did became real as well. And if I create something on paper and people feel emotion once they read it, it gets reality for them, even if it¡¯s just for a short moment in time. And if they carry those memories along with them, it gets a piece of their reality forever.¡± Jim couldn¡¯t help it but smile. ¡°Alright, let¡¯s head back inside now. I have to admit that it¡¯s getting a little chilly out here.¡± ¡°Ah, yea, sure. But let¡¯s look at the stars for a little bit longer.¡± Jim turned, looked at the window of Jack¡¯s room which wasn¡¯t too far away. Anna had opened it, appeared to be watching the stars as well. ¡°Fine, but not for too long, okay?¡± ¡°Sure,¡± Jack said. The moon was watching over them like an ancient presence. It shone a dim light upon the darkened scenery, like a giant light keeping the earth safe in the endless night of space. ¡°Jack?¡± ¡°Yea?¡± ¡°Do you think humankind will reach for the stars one day?¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± ¡°¡­¡± ¡°But you know what? Maybe it would be better if they didn¡¯t.¡± And so Jim gazed upon the stars once again, knowing that they might as well be fake. But he did not care, since he thought they looked beautiful either way. ----- Sinner¡¯s Game End ----- Authors Note -List of Contents- 1. Introduction 2. How I started Writing (Sinner¡¯s Game) 3. How I (almost never) Wrote Sinner¡¯s Game 4. Software and Helping-Hands 5. About Future Projects 6. The Wrap 1. Introduction After having finished writing the Novel and sorting out all the necessary stuff for a smooth release, I had enough time to shape some thoughts which I want to share with you here. I never wrote something like this before, so let¡¯s call this a first, huh? Anyways, this will be less scripted than the stuff I usually do, since I want to get more close to my readers with this one. (Yea, I mean you. Get over here.) If you would have told me at the beginning of the year that I would release a full Novel as well as blow my highest view-goal for the year out of the window, I would most likely have said something like: ¡®Yea, sure. Can I have a fried unicorn with that, too?¡¯ Back at the time, 1k reads seemed to be far out of reach. I actually just put it on my goals list as ¡®too high to reach goal¡¯, just in case I manage to somehow overshoot my other ones. And now, I¡¯m sitting here (as I write this) with around 9 Chapters to release left and having overshot that ¡®unreachable goal¡¯ by around 200% already¡­ what the actual fuck. I really don¡¯t want to come across like I want to brag about it or seem desperate to thank you all the time, but I am very very grateful for every single one who dedicates some of their free time to view my content. That being said, who even am I? Not to have an existential-crisis on page¡­ but I think I should at least give you a short summary of how I actually got to writing ¡®Sinner¡¯s Game¡¯ So let¡¯s get into this¡­ 2. How I started Writing (Sinner¡¯s Game) So, who even is that Niffox guy, and why did he write this train-wreck of a Novel? Well, good question secondary voice inside my head. Let¡¯s find out! Telling the whole story would of course be way too long (might tell it another day in the future), so let¡¯s focus on the ¡®writing aspect¡¯ for today. Before I even started ¡®writing¡¯ in the classical sense, I consumed all sorts of content which would set me up for who I am now. A huge part of my childhood was about video games, shows, anime, comics and the such. I always loved diving into new and interesting crafts of fiction, as well as drifting in my imagination to build my own worlds and characters there. It was just normal to me, but I didn¡¯t even think about writing it down. I just kept it in my little silly brain back then. Fast forward some years, and I¡¯m now around 14 years old. This was around the time when I started roleplaying online. I know the term ¡®roleplaying¡¯ gets a lot of shit-talk recently, and is mostly associated with cringe by a lot of people, but it was perfect for me back then. But what even is roleplaying? The concept of (online text based) rping is quite simple: You find a person or a group of people online to rp with, maybe in a forum created for it or something close to it, and set up a setting and some other things like genres, characters and so on. Most of the time there will be a ¡®starter¡¯, which starts off the story like, for example, you shipwreck on an island, and from there it¡¯s improvised. Everyone then writes out of the perspective of their characters, taking turns on writing what they do and so on (It is in a sense very close to playing pen and papers, just without a GM). This can lead to more or less anything to happen, and it is a beautiful way to create worlds and stories which you couldn¡¯t have created by yourself. If you consider learning to write or just want to write for fun, I would highly recommend you try out rping to some extend. Anyways, where was I? Ah yea¡­ roleplayed for some years, got better (from writing around one line per message to up to multiple paragraphs). Over the years, I more or less quit it (mostly because it got replaced with other writing), but I still play DnD with my friends from time to time. Fast forward some years again, and I get this idea one day. Since I already spend a lot of time daydreaming and so on, why not create something like ¡®one great universe¡¯ which I can expand on any time I want. Around 2 years later now, it¡¯s my main project I am still preparing for, and it is the story I actually started ¡®writing¡¯ for. I will give out more information about my main project once the time for it comes. But why do I tell you all of this? Well, since I wasn¡¯t even close to good enough to start writing my main story, I decided that I should get better at writing first. So after some thinking, I figured I could start off with writing some short stories. I did that, and ¡®Sinner¡¯s Game¡¯ actually started off as one of them. And that¡¯s where the story of the Novel begins: Me hovering a text document with the name ¡®Sinner¡¯s Game¡¯ over my PC¡¯s trash bin. 3. How I (almost never) Wrote ¡®Sinner¡¯s Game¡¯ Like stated earlier, Sinner¡¯s Game started off as another short story idea. The core concept back then was something like: Dude gets trapped in circle of hell because of something bad he has done. It was supposed to be around 4 chapters long, and more or less just being a little foreshadowing here and there and some abstract horror stuff at the end. And why didn¡¯t it stay that way? Well¡­ After writing around 3 Chapters worth of content, I reached the scene before shit was about to go down. The clock was about to strike 12 (where I planned the horror stuff to happen) and¡­ well, nothing happened. Don¡¯t get me wrong, I came up with an idea (something along the lines of people in the classroom starting to expand and get longer in a weird body-horror-ish kind of way.) The only problem was that¡­ Well, it sucked. Yea, it just wasn¡¯t good. I thought about the story for a few days, put it on the back burner to come up with a way to fix it, but it just felt bad. So one faithful day, I decided to just dump it and start a new one. I hovered the file over the trash can, ready to throw it into limbo to never be read. But then, I remembered a promise I had made to myself a while ago (kinda cliche I know, but that was really how it happened). I had promised myself to never delete a story again, and instead just put it in a folder as unfinished. I could then return to the old drafts one day once I had better ideas for them. So that¡¯s what I did. Yet again, some time passed. I wrote another short-story or two, and some things went down irl (you know, mostly boring adult stuff). Then, one day at work, I got an idea for the story. Then another one. Then another. I started writing on the core idea of letting my cast of characters go through three stages, but things kept expanding and ideas just kept coming. It always sounds dumb to tell people how I get my ideas like that, but it really just feels like things appear out of thin air, clearly visible in my inner eye. It¡¯s not rare that I sit somewhere random, talk to someone or am doing something unrelated to writing, when suddenly: ¡®Hold up, I need to write something down.¡¯ I then usually open up my phone and write a note which will add itself to the dozens upon dozens of other notes stored there (no they are not sorted and you can¡¯t stop me.) This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. So, anyways, the ideas kept coming and I continued noting and outlining some things as well as rewriting the first few Chapters and preparing the first-draft. I started writing and soon realized that it would definitely be much longer than a short story. I didn¡¯t bother with it, since I didn¡¯t have limitations of how long my stories had to be anyways. Around 20k words later, and sitting on a desk cluttered with small notes, it was too late to turn back, and so I decided to go all in and write it as long as it would need to be. In retrospect, I could have easily made the story a lot longer by fleshing out some environments and slowing down the pacing, but I think it wouldn¡¯t be the same like it is now then. The fast pacing is in my opinion part of the soul of the piece, even though I¡¯m pretty sure some would disagree with me on that note. I don¡¯t really like beating around the bush too much, since everything necessary is in the story, and forcing it to last longer just to have more ¡®content¡¯ isn¡¯t really my style. I also have to note that working on the Novel wasn¡¯t close to easy. I don¡¯t want to play the ¡®I have it so hard, please tell me I¡¯m a good boy¡¯ card, but I think this has to be said, especially to new writers (I¡¯m more or less a new writer myself after all). I want to say that writing this project, even though it might sound effortless from an outside perspective, really wasn¡¯t. And as much as you love your craft, as heavy the burden gets you have to carry to put it to life. You have to sit down every day, sometimes successfully sometimes not, putting in time and effort to construct something very important to you. Especially while holding other responsibilities like work and your mental health, you have to keep pushing to get there. And it is a steep climb uphill. But I also have to admit, after finishing all of this and slowly seeing some ¡®progress¡¯ in the direction people tend to call success, it was all worth it. Yea, I know, another clich¨¦. But it really is worth it at the end! And without all the struggle and hard times, it wouldn¡¯t have felt fulfilling anyways. That¡¯s just how humans work. I¡¯m going to stop myself right here before I spiral into too deep themes, since I originally wanted to keep this light. I just felt like addressing this might help one or two people out there. To conclude this bit¡­ I already see some things and details I could make different now, but that¡¯s just part of the craft. It¡¯s a reflection of myself and how I felt back then. A showcase of how good I was at writing at that moment in time, and I will shape the experiences I made along the way into new wisdom for future projects. I definitely have to fix my working habits and mental health, since these are the factors which hold me back the most. I have some days where I work hours upon ours without breaking a sweat, and then (most of the) other days, when I can¡¯t even open up my writing program without almost crying manly tears onto my keyboard (which is widely regarded as a bad move). Now that we spoke about my fragile mental state, lets talk about what software/help I used to write the story. Yay! 4. Software and Helping-Hands You know these bits in comedy shows where they roll some fake credits and its all just one name? Yea¡­ Well¡­ I did more or less everything myself. The only exception would be Canya (linked below), who helped me modify some of the parts of the Cover, and the people who gave me edit recommendations (which I will also write down below). I wrote, edited, created the cover (and Cover art), wrote advertisings as well as ran them, and so on all by myself. Why? Well, mainly because I wanted to learn how all of it works for future projects, and also because I didn¡¯t knew people who could do it for me / I didn¡¯t want to pay a lot of money for these services. I give you a quick rundown of what I used to do all of that. Notes: That won¡¯t sound very professional, but like stated earlier, I write a lot of my notes in my note app on the phone. The main reason for it is that I can paste it to PC and that I always have my phone with me (which also leads me to have like unironically ~100 notes in there at all times.) Also, remember the little square pieces of paper Jack used for his notes? Yea¡­ I do that as well. Writing Program: I used ¡®LibreOffice Writer¡¯, which is a free software for writing. It isn¡¯t the magnum opus of writing programs, but it has everything necessary. (I¡¯m also used to it by now, even though I think about changing to a better alternative like ¡®Scrivener¡¯ in the future). Editing: is hard. Even after writing multiple drafts and proofreading, mistakes happen and slip through your fingers. I used ¡®ProWritingAid¡¯ (online) to help me spot some obvious mistakes and also catch some things I might have read over otherwise. The rest was more or less just very careful rereading and, well, editing. I also used ¡®Grammarly¡¯ here and there, but it doesn¡¯t work with ¡®LibreOffice¡¯ for some reason, which eventually led me to only use ¡®ProWritingAid¡¯. Editing Help (I need somebody): At the time I am writing this, I¡¯m still releasing new Chapters, but I want to at least feature the people who helped me spot mistakes and attributed to improving the clarity of my writing through comments so far. Thanks to: Canya CEO of Bread Derv Idjit Superkamimarvin Mexxor KittyJingles Daep ...And everyone who came after them. You really are a great help. I should also note that music carried a lot of my editing process. Especially the music of Kevin Penkin, Hiroyuki Sawano, and Jack Stauber. They are all worth checking out. Cover: So the Cover was actually created in three steps. The first step is creating the Cover art. I used ¡®MageSpace AI¡¯ to create the (unedited) artwork. After that I used ¡®Canva¡¯ to edit the picture as well as add the Text and everything else (like Fonts, Contrasts, and so on). Both of these sites can be used for free by the way (even though they offer a paid premium version). The last step was Canya (Canya is the person, ¡®Canva¡¯ is the site, repeat after me kids!), who helped me bring the Cover to life by redrawing some details which made it to what it is now. Ads: The most of my advertising was copying ads to places where I expected to find viewers (of course only where you are allowed to do so). I used mostly ¡®Twitter¡¯ and ¡®Discord¡¯. I also created an Ad I edited with ¡®Canva¡¯ (again), and am currently running it on ¡®Royal Road¡¯ as a Square-Ad. The ¡®Royal Road¡¯ ad was the only paid advertisement I did (the smallest one they offer there, it¡¯s 330k impressions for ~50€), but it helped my visibility quite well. (Update: Scored an CTR of 0.88% with it.) Thanks: I want to say thanks to my friends who supported me, as well as all the people who wrote comments or supported me in any other way. Special thanks go to Canya, who kept me from mentally breaking down as well as supported me in various ways while I was working on the Novel. If you have a few clicks to spare, please go check out some of Canya¡¯s art and give them some love. They really deserve it: https://canyaferox.wordpress.com/ Okay, lets get to the part where I talk about what¡¯s next. 5. About Future Projects Once all the Chapters of ¡®Sinner¡¯s Game¡¯ are out (which is a few weeks in the future for me, and right now for you,) I will most likely (soon) repost some short-stories on ¡®Royal Road¡¯. I just want to have my other content on there as well, even if it¡¯s not a lot. Maybe I can do something like a short-story collection, but I need to check out if that is allowed on RR first. As I am writing this, I am already working on my next big project. It will be another Novel and the last big stand-alone project I will write before I start writing my ¡®main project¡¯. I will keep you updated about my progress on Twitter, and you can follow wherever your reading this to get notified once new stuff drops. But what¡¯s this main project you are talking about all the time, Niffox? Yea well, I won¡¯t talk about any details yet, but I can at least give some information. Like stated in my bio, it will be a long term running project of massive scale, most likely spanning over decades of reallife time. It will be my magnum opus, and therefore it needs a lot of work, which means I need a little bit more practice until I feel ready to make it as good as it deserves to be. I always work on this project in the background, even when I am working on other things or am serializing work (like Sinner¡¯s Game). I update you once I am ready for it, but it most likely will take some more time until you get more concrete information from me about it. Please stay patient, the wait will be worth it. The new Novel will be in focus for now. But keep in mind that the Dawn of Imbalance is steadily approaching. Also, I want to note that I will prioritize my mental health more from here on. At least until I fixed a few bigger problems which make my consistency go down by a huge chunk. I really don¡¯t want to sound dramatic or anything, but I figured you deserve to know. If I want to do this in the long run (and believe me, I will), then I need to get my mental back on track, which also means better and more content for you in the long run :). 6. The Wrap This is the part where content-creators do their content-creator-thing?, and since this is the last time I get the chance to do so, I want to thank you one more time. It¡¯s been certainly a ride till here and I¡¯m glad that so many people stayed along to read my Novel till the very end. I appreciate every single one of you, and I hope you will return to read more of my content. If you haven''t done so already, please consider following my Twitter (Click here: https://twitter.com/TheRealNiffox ) to get notified whenever I release new content. It is my main platform to share my progress (and reach my readers), and I will always do my best to create quality content worth your time. Also, since I¡¯m already doing that kinda thing, please also consider using the systems on the site you are reading this on to rate/like/review if you enjoyed the Novel. It helps my visibility a lot and ensures I can grow because of fancy algorithm stuff. Lastly, if there is anything else you wanna ask or talk about, just use the comment section below to do so. I gladly answer any questions you may have (no matter how unrelated or random they are, lol). Criticism is also welcomed, just keep it constructive so I can use it to become a better writer ^^. Take care, and see you in the next one. ~Niffox