Elysium

25. W4TCHIN YOU LI4R

Yuno:

Sitting on my bed by the window, I look out over Neo Seoul before an overcast dawn. Lights and neon, advertising-holograms - all this sparkles on the horizon, but the light is already paler due to the morning sun, hidden under a huge layer of urban smog and storm clouds. Strange feeling. Being in the metaverse for too long, you want to feel reality, freedom from the choker and the closed space of chat rooms, but once you get back, the feeling of tightness becomes more vivid. It's even worse here, and there's nowhere to run. Still, Elysium is the best place in the world, although it doesn't exist, in the usual sense of the word.

Often I find myself thinking that I can't stay in reality at all. The fear of loneliness, loss, meaninglessness of my own life depresses me, and it becomes scary, so I run to where I feel calm. Where I create my own ideal world that others accept. This is my only meaning.
An anonymous invitation to some event live comes again. I put on my choker and head back to the Elysium.

I don't have time to understand where I am, as someone's cold palms cover my eyes.

"Hi. I thought that you might be bored, so I decided to call you here," Aia smiles.

"Do you read minds?" I chuckle.

"At least I try."

"It works out well."

"I'm a fast learner," Aia says, looking around, "How do you like the location?"

We find ourselves in the middle of a huge cathedral, created in the likeness of those that used to flaunt in Europe in the real world. The space is huge, entirely of white stone. It seems that if you shout, the echo will be deafening.

"I like these atypical chatrooms," I reply.

"I wouldn't even call it a chatroom. No one uses such locations, this is their charm. A game of contrasts."

For some time we silently stand and consider all this magnificence.

"I wonder who was the designer of this location?" I ask her.

"In fact, this location wasn't created by the designer. There are places all over the server that were designed based on something real, not recreated by a person, but uploaded as a file, just so that at least somewhere there is a memory of it. If I'm not mistaken, this is an exact copy of a real cathedral that once existed in the world. That is, not a collective image of different churches," Aia explains.

"It's kinda weird..."

"Why strange?"

"I don't know. It feels like we're living on the ruins of something good."

She is silent.

"I don't have that feeling," Aia suddenly replies.

"You're a pretty weird thinker, actually," I chuckle.

"What do you mean?" she asks, like she doesn't really know what I'm talking about.

"You feel strangely carefree. Sometimes I feel like you haven't lived a real life."

"I still don't understand."

"Do you take pills?"

"Of course. Like everyone else."

"Maybe that's the whole point. To be honest, I sometimes miss pills intake. Sometimes I can stay without it for a week."

"Seriously? It must be hard. I never miss pills intake," Aia replies.

"I didn't miss it on purpose. Just once there was a strange feeling that they don't suit me at all. I've had insomnia, an unnatural surge of energy, euphoria. So I decided to take it every other day and see what happens," I say.