Sinner's Game

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."