[WeLC0Me: G@me Loading...]
[PLAYER Count: 100]
A blink. He opened his eyes to find a strange screen blinking in front of him.
Dang. Had he ended up in the wrong place again? He could almost hear Olivia's nagging voice teasing him about being late to his one and only part-time job. (How difficult it was to fall asleep and wake up in the right place! But, it wasn't his fault that the currents were sometimes unpredictable.)
As he was distracted by his thoughts, a curious-looking creature appeared. A charming fusion of dragon and fox with wings and horns, it had a mischievous gleam in its eyes. The dragon-fox creature reached out a hand to pet its belly, giving it a slightly chubby and cute appearance, like a stuffed animal covered in fur and scales. Nevertheless, the creature retained the playful look in its eyes.
Some of the surrounding people seemed dazed, as if they were caught up in some sort of dream.
"Y-Where are we?" one person asked.
"Welcome to the GAME, BETA version!" the dragon-fox chirped, its enthusiasm entirely out of place for the situation. "Aren't you guys lucky? The hundred of you will be our BETA testers!"
Steven's mind whirred as he recognized where they were: the BORDER IN-BETWEEN, an ocean he had crossed many times with his cousins. They were standing on glass platforms several stories above the ocean's water, a sight both surreal and terrifying. Below, the seawater churned like lost and broken shards of dreams unfulfilled. Falling in meant "uncertain death," the creature had said, its eyes twinkling with dark amusement.
One of the players decided to test it out and jumped. With a flick of its wrist, the fox spirit sent him flying back. "WARNING: FALLING DETECTED. Player Count Safe. Action Denied!" It laughed, "I wouldn't suggest doing that again."
"The goal's easy," the creature continued, sounding far too cheerful. "Only 10 Players have to fall in the water for the game to end! How nice!" It danced in the air, clutching its chubby horns.
Amid the confusion and disbelief, chatter among the players grew louder. Questions, doubts, and accusations were thrown around, the reality of the situation not sinking in. This wasn't real, right? Right?
"What's happening?" A girl on his left asked rhetorically, looking around with a tinge of panic in her voice.
Steven shrugged, yawning. Honestly, this place was nothing new. Sure, he wasn't paid enough in his 'dream-walking' job, but he had been here too many times to count. Silently, he listened to the chatter around him. It grew like strangled vines, choking on word-vomit.
The dragon-fox creature's eyes narrowed, its whimsical demeanor shifting into something far more sinister. The mischievous gleam in its eyes was replaced by a cold, calculated look. "Enough!" it barked, its voice no longer chirpy but chilling. "It seems you all need a bit of... motivation."
With a wave of its clawed hand, a holographic screen materialized, displaying a two-minute timer. The numbers began to count down, each tick a reminder of their impending doom.
[1:59]... [1:58]...
"If you do not comply, if you do not play the game as instructed," the dragon-fox hissed, "all of you will die when the timer reaches zero. Understand?" It tore into a couple nearby people's faces, shredding them like the juice of molded tomatoes, before reconstructing it like it had never happened. The people clawed at their faces like they could feel warts and blisters where the places reconnected.
The crowd fell into stunned silence, the weight of the creature's words crashing down like a tidal wave. Fear replaced disbelief, and once-confused faces now bore terrified expressions.
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Fantasy[??? book - D grade] [Description: A third-rate novel about the slice of life adventures of a boy and his friendly AI assistant. Nothing bad happens.] Recalibrating description... [Description (Revised): A hand-me-down novel about a boy who goes mi...
