Five years... after five years, it finally ends, huh.
"You have succeeded."
The being in front of me was... bizarre. It was made of nothing, yet it was bright, blinding even. But right now, I was still trying to process things.
"I have succeeded..."
"Yes, you have succeeded."
"I have succeeded..."
"... Are you alright?"
"Sorry, I was still trying to understand what you just said."
"I believe it's not that hard to comprehend, no? You have succeeded. A hard-earned victory for you, is it not?"
"No, before that, I think I might have heard it wrong. Let me run it back to you to see if I was going crazy."
"Very well. I will correct you on what you don't understand."
"This whole thing was a farce between two profoundlywise beings debating whether, in a do-or-die situation, humanity would kill itself or band together to survive?"
"There is more to it, but in essence, correct."
"So they decided to do the most logical thing to do and create an experiment with FIVE.THOUSAND.PEOPLE to prove the other wrong?"
"Well-"
"And then they filled said experiment with other problematic BULLSHIT for the fun of it?"
"..."
"And since we didn't kill each other, we 'succeeded'?"
Their silence was deafening. I'm not even mad, I'm... I'm just confused, disappointed, and frankly tired of it all.
"So what now? Now that we've succeeded... do we just go back to our lives as if nothing happened? That five-year gap is not good for my civil record, so that you know, if you even understand that concept."
"Return? Of course not. While you did succeed in surviving with more than half of the total participants. You are all far too violent for your regular world now."
I sighed. I was frankly tired of it all, and now I don't know what to do or what I can even do.
"Fret not, WE have formed a solution for the reward of succeeding and for enduring the trials. Your previous life was rewarded as well."
A vision of a world unlike anything before flashed in my mind. It was green, a fresh atmosphere from the apocalyptic desert yellow I always see.
"This is Planas, a world similar yet completely different from yours. Here you will live in complete luxury, proportionate to your contribution within the trial, of course."
Wow... I never knew how much I missed the green scenery of Mother Nature. Damn... I kind of want to taste the air, breathe in something natural for once, and not the arid and noxious air of the ruined desert sea or those artificial oxygen tanks.
I never had a good life to begin with, and from where I stand, I can complain but never really get anything more from what I'm offered. A life of luxury... It's a tantalizing deal, but is there a monkey's paw in this? They were, after all, responsible for this entire situation... But then again, I don't see why not. Anything is better than this, I guess.
"So... What do I do now?"
"Live... live how you want to be. Lash out your anger or relax and succumb to slothfulness. To be a tyrant or be a saint, honestly, it now becomes your CHOICE on how you live your life of luxury."
Truly a honey-covered word... Maybe I'm just being pessimistic. No need to worry, Jeffery; anything is better than sleeping with one eye open, waking up to muck slop as breakfast, searching for scraps to call lunch, and heading to sleep early to minimize hunger...
"Then take me to it."
"Gladly. But first... you, who have succeeded in this trial, must watch the last dawn of Vokazia. Have you made companions, yes? You will all be rewarded in different ways, some may differ, and some may be the same, but never identical. Say your farewell before you never see those souls again."
With just one word, everything became dark. My eyes shot open, with all those who survived the gruesome five years standing beside me. We were at the capital, the first place we came to when we were first summoned into this world, and the place we made as a peace zone.
I took one long glance and started heading up one of the remains of a building, watching the night sky slowly inch towards the dawn of the final hour.
"We'll if it isn't Jeffery. I thought you keeled over and died a few months ago."
From behind me came an all too familiar voice.
"Pete, you seem like you've seen better days."
He was battered and bruised with one eye missing, and he was slowly limping his way towards me.
"Well, a Dessert Ravager got me a few weeks ago, you know how aggressive they can be when you hit them hard enough, and I would've died if it wasn't for the Orcas, those freaks do live by their code."
"Yeah..."
Pete sat down beside me as I was still looking at the night sky.
"Must be quite a shocker, huh. Getting out of this place and all that."
"I think... I wanna live a quiet life next time."
"Huh? That's a first. You're one of the most pesky and troublesome fucker we've got here. You usually start and end fights, I thought you might've wanted to keep doing it."
"I'm guessing everyone got the same deal?"
"The ones I trust at least. They have similar experiences with the instigator."
From where we were, the sun rose. Perhaps it wasn't even a sun from all the truth I received today. I know some people actually thought that this world was a punishment for all their karma during the first days of the five years. Right, I at least enjoyed this world more than the one before. People here were ironically more honest, perhaps the first year had people trying to cozy up to others to make deals and all... but after the third year, they either said what they wanted or the most bat-shit craziest thing out of nowhere for shits and giggles.
I took a look at my hands, and they were fading. It was slowly disappearing like everything the light of dawn touched. And true to THEIR words, this was the final dawn this world would take. As the sun rose from beyond the endless desert, I could see stars appearing and slowly crashing towards the ground. The shaking reached up to where we were, a cataclysmic event we usually receive every year, but each increment slowly got more intense and violent. Looks like today's going to be the last Starfall we're going to see.
"Hey... See you around, asshole."
I took a look to my side, and Pete was already gone.
"You too, dipshit. You too..."
And with that, I closed my eyes one last time.
I took a moment to realize how far I've fallen into this sense of depravity that the five years of complete insanity have dragged me into. It was surprisingly fun... running away from certain death, shooting and killing those mutated freaks, dealing with tense relationships, and bargaining. It was a breath of fresh air from the suffocating day-in, day-out routine I had back at my home. It was dangerous, stupid, and annoying, but it did make me feel more alive.
Crash
Whatever I was feeling right now, I should put them on hold. I'm having the most painful migraine ever. Should I be feeling like this?
"Quickly, grab the physician! We'll check the young master first!"
"The Master and the Lady are already on their way. Make sure nothing else happens!"
Whoever these fuckers were, I needed them to fuck off for a moment. This is actually killing me.
"You! What were you feeding the young master? Poison, Toxins? You petty rat! You'd even kill a child just for your selfish reasons!"
"I-I swear I didn't do anything. The young master just suddenly collapsed, I swear I didn't do anything!"
"Huh?!?"
What in the nine circles of hell is this? I've shrunk, no wait...
"Young master! Are you in any discomfort? Can you feel my hand?"
This dude seems to be trying to squeeze my wrist. Sorry, dude, but like can I get a restraining order on you?
"Can everyone please stop SHOUTING!"
It hurts me more screaming that than it did them hearing me scream. I feel like my head is now ringing with ten thousand of those church bells.
Well, at least they actually did shut up. Now... what the fuck is going on and how do I Google 'How to get rid of migraine'?