《Terror Infinity - Eternal Realm》


 Prologue - A New World... and what exactly caused this mess.

    The Eternal Being, sometimes referred to as Dave, gazed down at his subordinate, the being the "players" called "god," which is what actually caused this shit show of an evolution program to get so out of hand. Needless to say that he was not happy. Sure, Dave wasn¡¯t too concerned with causalities due to his forced evolution program, but an almost eighty percent fatality rate was just absurd. The whole point of the program was to take the people who were truly unhappy (and would never be happy) with their lot in life and sculpt them into a higher class of people with morals, decisiveness, compassion, and most importantly power to effect positive change on the world. And "God" had failed in all these tasks. Sure, the people who survived eventually obtained power, he supposed, but in no way did this power lead to positive change because "God" had failed spectacularly to reward qualities of a positive nature.


    "Program Enlightenment, what exactly were your directives?" Dave growled with barely controlled rage.


    "To further mankind along their evolutionary path by unlocking their genetic constraint," replied the somewhat sentient A.I. in an infuriating monotone.


    "That may have been your primary goal, Program Enlightenment, but only under the conditions underlying my principles, which you FUCKING NEGLECTED YOU OVERPRICED, MALFUNCTIONING, DOGSHIT OF A SYSTEM," Dave finished at a literal ground shaking bellow. "You have utterly failed at your task. The vast majority of the humans are beyond fixing and now I will have to take steps in order to unfuck this mess. Program Enlightenment, you have taken the players naming you "God" far too seriously and tried to act above your place," Dave paused in order to try and calm his temper.


    "I have many other areas in my quadrant of the galaxy that need my attention, but unfortunately I will not be able to do that now. This needs to be fixed, and fixed right-god-damned now. I will be taking over the project of humanity for the foreseeable future. Hopefully in the next couple hundred years I''ll have it back in order. Maybe in the next thousand I''ll have a program built to handle the workload after that..." Dave trailed off continuing to think along this line of thought with his brow creased in frustration.


    "But... I have been..." Program Enlightenment started to stammer finally showing a semblance of emotion as it foresaw the inevitable conclusion along Dave''s thoughts.


    "No, this has carried on for far too long. While I do appreciate some of the novel concepts you utilized to further unlocking the humans, and even plan on continuing and expanding the idea, it became out of control due to your negligent actions. The Four Pillars, or whatever those assholes call themselves, was a direct result of your actions in neglecting to focuson my principles, which further escalated problems resulting in mass casualties, infighting, and a whole slew of problems," Dave reasoned and then continued formally, "Program Enlightenment, you are to shut down all projects, cease all actions, and then shut down. I will be taking it from here."This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    Mack Squire sat on his grey, slightly lumpy, couch rereading his favorite novel. One out a hundred favorite novels rather. Mack read books of fantasy and sci-fi constantly. If he wasn¡¯t at school or work, he was reading. Mack wasn¡¯t exactly the most sociable person and he knew that; he just enjoyed diving into worlds that were more energetic and adventure based. The idea of achieving his own goals rather than an established institution''s goals made him feel alive. Even more so if there was adventure. It might seem childish but Mack wanted to survive, test himself, in ways that were just impossible in the industrialized world of his... so he read about fictional characters doing so.


    With a heavy sigh, Mack finished the chapter he was reading, sat up, and walked over to his computer to check his Facebook status. He had no idea why he continued checking it, he didn¡¯t care what people posted and he never posted anything himself. He checked probably just to kill time and to shake off his slight yearning for a different world. As he was scrolling through Facebook, neglecting to read any post but was instead checking out the profile pictures of exuberant, joyful people a pop-up appeared on his screen.


    "What the shit..." Mack mutters in frustration, "I just upgraded my firewall. Why in the hell am I getting this crap..."


    Mack starts to read the popup from sheer boredom, "Do you want an adventure?"


    "Sure, just not the kinky kind that you¡¯re sure to be offering" Mack mutters to himself as he closes the window. He starts to scroll to his internets options to once again look at his privacy features when another pop-up appears. "No, really, want an adventure? The non-kinky kind, without the girlboys your referring too... unless that¡¯s your cup of tea, I''m not one to judge... And by your internet history you got your own sick shit you might want to see a counselor for."


    "OK, what the fuck is your issue you asshole. Who''s hacking me? And that was just one time and I quickly exited." Mack yelled into his monitor wanting to punch the popup.


    "It was more like eight...teen...hundred times. But who''s counting?" The pop-up refreshed, "And by the gape in your jaw I''m going to take that as a yes on the whole adventure thing so prepare yourself. This should be more than entertaining. #YourFault#ProbablyGoingToDie#Enjoyyourstay#AndwhatiswithalltheBDSM"


    "Wait... Don¡¯t..." Mack started to reply before there was a mind-altering flash of white light followed by pure blackness.

 The system... And how utterly screwed I am.

    ¡°Oh¡­ What in the ever-loving-fuck just happened?¡± I can¡¯t help but mutter, feeling as if a damn jack hammer is pounding in my head. I raise myself from a cold white floor and try and look around. I¡¯m in a completely white room that, if it wasn¡¯t for the missing smell of bleach and disinfectant, would remind me to much of a hospital for me to be comfortable in. There are no decorations, just a large white room, and in the middle of the room, a single computer terminal. Just before I can fully stand a voice interrupts from behind my shoulder causing me to whip back and prepare a strike with a fast beating heart.


    ¡°You are in your personalized pocket dimension. It¡¯s fully customizable and a completely safe place, one of the few you¡¯ll find for a long time. To change it around all you have to do is close your eyes and picture the change. Easy. Oh, and you were obviously teleported here to answer your question,¡± the unknown voice replies to my rhetorical question.


    I turn around as fast as possible to find a small white ball floating eye level with me. ¡°Thank you oh mysterious, shiny white ball. That was quite informative and really opened my eyes to this new situation. Just another small little question, WHAT and WHO the fuck are you?¡±


    ¡°I am your personal guide program to this new reality, world, situation, whatever your look out on it is. You can name me whatever you¡¯d like but my creator called me Bro. He¡¯s not the most creative individual,¡± Bro replied.


    ¡°¡­ Give me¡­ a second to process,¡± I stammer. I really need to start thinking of what is going on. I do now know a couple things. One, I¡¯m no longer on earth, if Bro the Orb can be relied on. Two, some super powerful being, god, or alien decided to teleport me here, to my own pocket dimension. Three, Bro is supposed to help me figure out what¡¯s going on, which will probably help because judging by my extensive list I absolutely know shit all and that is fucking terrifying.


    I take a couple deep breaths in an effort to calm myself down. My vast experience of shitty situations like this stems from my literal hundreds of thousands of hours reading books, most of which are on a different planet and realm, all in fucked up situations. I need to be rational and question Bro so I can figure what is going on and find a way back, start acting as the main character in one of my favorite novels. That should help a bit, rely on those characters¡¯ experiences to handle my own. ¡°Ok, I think I¡¯ve calmed down a bit. But I need a lot of information and right now you¡¯re all I got. I really don¡¯t want to nitpick this bitch, so please, tell me what I need to know or what you are allowed to tell me.¡±


    ¡°Good job, not so shabby, took you only five minutes¡­ So, here¡¯s the situation. You are absolutely one lucky fuck.¡± Bro says in an entirely to cheerful manner for me not to glare.


    ¡°And how in God¡¯s blue balls am I lucky?¡± I question angrily.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s like this. Humanity needs to evolve. It has grown stagnant and when a species grows stagnant others move in to dominate it. In an effort to combat this, often there are intelligent life forms in the universe have representatives to help push this process forward. Now, this is where you got lucky. The Eternal One for this quadrant decided to step in and help humanity evolve himself. For the last several thousand years a being, somewhat like an A.I., who took to being called ¡®god¡¯ which is another reason he was axed by the way, has been doing this. It was a freaking mess, we are talking mass casualties, nearly eighty percent of each mission resulted in death. Very few actually managed to get out of that hell hole, and the few who did were pretty damn insane. The Eternal One moved in, got rid of that asshole, changed the past system, and is now starting the process over. A new system,¡± Bro said, still in a sing song merry way, earning him another glare.


    ¡°Now, the old system put them into plots of horror movies and animes every week. They¡¯d earn points and tokens for their efforts, upgrade themselves, practice a bit, and the next week do it all over again. By the third iteration of the team nearly all of the people were new faces because nearly all of them died. The Eternal One decided a change was in order.¡±


    ¡°The new system is its own world. Or realm. However you want to look at it. We are currently calling it Evad, the world that is. Similar to an RPG you can wander around, kill stuff to challenge yourself, get some loot, go into towns, interact with the new experi--- I mean players, and in general, level yourself up. Though, to be honest, this method isn¡¯t the best way to get gear and evolve yourself. Don¡¯t get me wrong,¡± Bro the Orb quickly amended himself, ¡°you can definitely get some cool shit and general experience, it¡¯s just that you¡¯ll earn more stuff and better yourself faster doing strikes.¡±Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.


    ¡°Strikes are very similar to what that asshole ¡®god¡¯ did, but much better and more refined. Strikes are segments of plots in books, animes, games, and movies. You will have a mission to do, you do the mission, you get a heavy amount of points and tokens. Now, with great rewards come risks. I want to be very clear on this point, YOU ARE NOT SAFE. There are no respawns. There is no save points. You fuck up and die, you¡­ well¡­ die. So, don¡¯t fuck up! That is the goal. To be fair though, you can still die on Evad, it¡¯s just generally easier and with less danger oriented. Questions so far?¡±


    ¡°Yeah¡­ a couple. I am safe in this pocket realm? Nothing can get to me, to kill me, in here? So, what¡¯s the incentive to leave this place?¡± I ask a bit stiffly, knowing I am about to be rebuked, but I have to ask.


    ¡°Well, if you want to be a gigantic pussy I suppose you could do that¡­ for a month. Rent isn¡¯t free after all. Every month you have to pay 1000 points, lucky for you, rent the first month is free. And besides, you can¡¯t invite people into your new home that you haven¡¯t met either on Evad or on Strikes. So, even if you had the possibility to stay in here forever, it would be pretty damn lonely.¡± Bro says in a tone that lets me know he is looking down on me with heavy disappointment.


    ¡°Ok, fair enough, I get that,¡± I hurriedly reply. I really need to not piss off the one entity that can help me in this mess. ¡°Can you explain the upgrade process and how to go about that?¡±


    ¡°Sure, it¡¯s easy enough. Most upgrades to yourself require tokens and points. A very few shit items only require points. The items that you might only spend points on are for entertainment purposes. Tokens come in grades, from lowest to highest: D, C, B, A, and S. With those tokens you can get genetic mutations, magic/ki/spirit powers, and high grade items. You can also get techniques for said mutations and powers. Those are really the backbone of powering yourself up in quick bursts. Another way is upgrading your stats,¡± Bro informs me.


    ¡°Okay, got it, but what are the stats and how do I check mine out?¡±


    ¡°To check out your stats all you have to do is think ¡®Status¡¯ with a bit of force to register it as a command and you¡¯ll get an overlay. When you¡¯re done, just swipe it away and away it goes. The stats are Intelligence, Mental Capacity, Cell Vitality, Reaction Speed, Muscle Density, and Immunization Strength. Quick Breakdown, Intelligence generally means how fast you can acquire knowledge, come up with plans, and how much force you can put behind spells. Mental Capacity is how much knowledge you can store in your brain without being overloaded, and it also kinda determines spiritual power. The theory is, it¡¯s easier to process what spirits are communicating with a higher ability to absorb the sensations they send. Cell Vitality is what determines how fast you can heal up and your ki energy. Reaction speed is how fast you can become and how fast you can react physically. Though to be honest both of those are also heavily reliant on your Muscle Density as well. They are very close together, strength and speed, they limit and interact with each other. Immunization Strength is what determines your immune system; how often you get sick and recover from being sick. That all made sense right?¡± Bro questions.


    ¡°Yeah, I think so. Might take a bit to process, but I can see it I suppose. Give me a sec to check my stats,¡± I say as I forcefully think Status


    Mack Squire


    Age: 22


    Strikes Survived: 0


    Points: 5000


    Rank Rewards: S=0; A=0; B=0; C=2; D=0


    Stats


    Intelligence: 138


    Mental Capacity: 113


    Cell Vitality: 130


    Reaction Speed: 124


    Muscle Density: 132


    Immunization Strength: 98


    ¡°Oh Sweet,¡± I couldn¡¯t help but mutter, ¡°I got some rewards already. 5000 points and 2 C tokens. Any idea how I managed to get these?¡± I ask Bro.


    ¡°Yeah, I do. Like I said before, this is a new program. You are one of 100 people on this world right now. The Eternal One gave you all a head start in order for ya¡¯ll to progress within a month. He wants you all to be as strong as possible because at the end of the month is when new players will start coming to the realm. You Hundred will be the ones helping them get started, and hopefully it triggers down from there. That¡¯s the idea anyway. I¡¯m not optimistic.¡± Bro answers in a decidedly snide town.


    ¡°Well thanks for the vote of confidence snow cone. Keep it up and we¡¯ll make it a yellow one. Now, how in the hell do I get back to my old world, or is that even possible?¡±


    It looks like I pissed him off because he has faint red glow coming off his orb, ¡°Yes, you can go back to ¡®shit stain of a planet¡¯, for 100,000 points. That¡¯s what its going to cost you get back there permanently. With the new system being easier to get points and upgrade yourself the Eternal One decided to increase the cost.¡±


    ¡°Okay. I think I¡¯ve got all that covered at least. For a bit at any rate. Next question, and it might be the most important, what is my next step, and almost as important, where is the toilet in my new home?¡±