--
I was standing on my check point like usual, the place that everybody starts.
It's going to be another ordinary day, I think to myself. I look around; all of our checkpoints form a circle in the clearing of a tall jungle. Mine is at the Southern end of the circle, as usual. The cubical green speaker remains floating overhead. Our tree huts line the edge of the jungle - from the ground to the very tips of the trees. I push my hair back and get ready to begin, but something's different. I know that the place didn't look like this yesterday. And then it hits me.
I've succeeded.
I really did it. I found what they sent me to search for! And they've decided that I'm a winner, a champion even. They've decided I'm worthy, along with all these others, to take on whatever they have planned for us next. I knew I could do it, most everyone does sooner or later. Except for those that don't. Those who, well, never mind. All that matters now is the present.
I have leveled up.
--
Utter bliss runs through my veins. I think back to yesterday, and the day before that, and the one even before that. There will be no more endless searches for that so-called "extremely important" whatever-it-was. I will get to move on, and do something better...
...something on a new level.
Heh, that was a good joke. You wouldn't get it, though. You wouldn't be able to understand. You have never lived your life like I have; as though you were living life in an endless video game.
--
Something else is different. I know something weird is going on. I don't feel right, at all. But what is happening? What's wrong??
Great. Did I have to wonder that? Now I see why wondering is not allowed; the speaker above us all is still large, still floating - still detecting our every move, taking off points whenever one of us makes a mistake, adding points whenever we do an acceptable action - it's our god, and it knows everything.
I figured out what's different! Our god is no longer green; it's red.
Uh oh.
--
"Attention" a monotone voice is directed at us from our god overhead.
"50 characters - 25 female. 25 male." this is the common way that our god addresses us.
"You have all been teleported to level: Last Level." whispers fill the area. Nobody has ever reached the last level.
"You have 60 seconds before destruction. Thank-you for playing."
'60. 59. 58. 57. 56. 55.' Numbers are being counted down. Now I know the reason that nobody has ever reached the last level. There is no last level. All this work. All this time. All for nothing. We are being destroyed. The game is over. I should have known.
'40. 39. 38.' What will happen when I explode? When we explode? Where will we go? Is this what happens when we die?
'15. 14. 13.' This is it. This is the end.
'5. 4. 3. 2. 1.'
--
I'm still here. All the other characters are gone.
--
I flinch, and close my eyes. A weird aura fills the air and I can't see. I stumble over, but some sort of force keeps me on my check point.
I open my eyes.
--
"Attention. 50 characters - 25 female. 25 male. You have been reset."
Reset?
"Please complete Level 1."
"Thank-you for playing."
*******
Arella 💋