If you're a copy… why do you remember being born?
The voice came from the darkness.
I opened my eyes.
Server 01 lay before me.
But this time, I wasn't alone.
A second player stood a few meters away.
I knew him.
I knew every movement.
Every small detail of his avatar.
His clothes.
His face.
His name.
Player 01.
I stared at him.
He stared back.
We moved at the same time.
One step.
Then another.
It felt like looking into a mirror that didn't reflect me.
Behind me stood Player 03 and Player 04.
Neither of them spoke.
Then a chat message appeared.
[PLAYER_01]:
which one are you?
My eyes moved to the other Player 01.
He typed.
[PLAYER_01]:
the one you replaced.
A cold feeling spread through my chest.
The wind moved across the empty map.
Nothing else made a sound.
Player 03 took a step backward.
„That's not possible."
The other Player 01 looked at him.
„It is."
Player 04 stepped closer.
„You're Player 01."
The other nodded.
„Yes."
My stomach tightened.
„I'm Player 01."
He looked at me.
„No."
Just one word.
Then:
„You're the memory of Player 01."
My screen flickered.
IDENTITY CONFLICT
A second line appeared.
PLAYER_01 // 2 INSTANCES
I couldn't look away.
Two instances.
Two Player 01s.
And both of us believed we were real.
Player 04 looked between us.
„If one of you is the original…"
He paused.
„…there has to be a way to prove it."
I said nothing.
He thought for a moment.
„What did we do on the last day?"
I answered immediately.
„We tried to leave the server."
The other Player 01 shook his head.
„No."
I looked at him.
„Yes."
„We tried to find Player 06."
Player 03 slowly raised his head.
„That's true."
I wanted to argue.
But something inside me stopped me.
Player 04 asked another question.
„What did Player 02 say to you?"
I answered without thinking.
„Promise you'll remember me."
The other Player 01 remained silent for a moment.
Then:
„He didn't say anything."
Silence.
Player 03 looked at him.
„Why?"
The other looked down.
„Because he was already deleted."
Something pressed against my chest.
I knew the memory.
I had seen Player 02.
I had heard his voice.
I had made the promise.
I promise.
But suddenly I didn't know if I remembered it...
or if the memory had been given to me.
The world flickered.
Not me.
The world around me.
For a fraction of a second, Server 01 looked exactly as it had in 2015.
Golden sunlight.
Six players.
The wind.
Laughter.
Then everything turned gray again.
Another flicker.
Player 02.
Player 03.
Player 04.
Player 05.
Player 06.
And me.
Then Guest 666.
I blinked.
The memory changed.
Player 06 stood behind me.
So close that I could hear his voice.
„If we get out of here…"
I turned toward him.
„Then?"
He looked at me.
His face was calm.
„You won't remember us anymore."
„Why?"
He didn't answer immediately.
„Because you're not coming out with us."
I stepped backward.
The scene shattered.
Server 01 returned.
Player 03 was staring at me.
„What did you see?"
I didn't answer.
„That never happened."
The other Player 01 stood a few meters away.
„It did."
I looked at him.
„No."
„You just forgot."
„How would you know?"
He looked at me for a long time.
„Because I didn't."
Player 03 opened the Archive.
His hands were shaking.
„Maybe there's something in here."
A folder appeared.
PROJECT MEMORY
Then a new file.
PLAYER_01_ORIGINAL
I knew immediately that I didn't want to open it.
Player 03 opened it anyway.
The screen went black.
Then white text appeared.
ORIGINAL PLAYER
MEMORY: 100%
IDENTITY: 100%
BODY: DELETED
I stopped breathing.
Another line appeared.
LOCATION: SERVER 05
STATUS: ACTIVE
LAST SEEN: 2015
I stared at the word.
ACTIVE.
Eleven years.
„That can't be."
Player 03 looked at me.
„Why?"
I pointed at myself.
„Because I'm here."
Player 04 answered quietly.
„That's exactly the problem."
Nobody spoke.
Then another file opened.
RECONSTRUCTED PLAYER
MEMORY: 71%
IDENTITY: 92%
BODY: ACTIVE
Below it:
RECONSTRUCTION: SUCCESSFUL
Two records.
Original.
Reconstructed.
One hundred percent.
Ninety-two percent.
Deleted.
Active.
I didn't know which part frightened me more.
I turned toward Guest 666.
He stood at the edge of the map.
As always.
Watching.
As if he'd been waiting for this exact moment.
„You knew."
„Yes."
„Since when?"
„Since you came back."
I walked toward him.
„Why didn't you tell me?"
He looked at me calmly.
„You wouldn't have believed me."
„And now?"
Guest 666 looked directly into my eyes.
„Now you remember."
I wanted to scream.
I wanted answers.
Instead, I asked the only question that mattered.
„What am I?"
He didn't answer.
The silence was worse than any answer could have been.
Player 03 stepped closer.
„If he's a copy…"
He pointed at me.
„What happens to him?"
Guest 666 looked at him.
„Nothing."
Player 04 spoke.
„And the original?"
Guest 666 answered:
„He waits."
My heart started beating faster.
„For what?"
Guest 666 looked at me.
„For you."
A door appeared behind us.
I knew it.
The door to Server 05.
But this time it didn't suddenly appear.
It had been there all along.
Open.
Behind it was not darkness.
Not exactly.
It was more like...
nothing.
As if the world itself was missing beyond the doorway.
Player 03 shook his head.
„We shouldn't go in."
Player 04 looked at him.
„Why?"
Player 03 stared at the door.
„Because I remember."
I looked at him.
„Remember what?"
He swallowed.
„That we've already gone inside."
„When?"
He looked at me.
„Tomorrow."
A shiver ran down my spine.
I stepped through the doorway.
Nobody stopped me.
Player 03 and Player 04 remained behind.
Guest 666 said nothing.
Server 05 didn't feel like a place.
It felt like a mistake in reality.
The ground beneath my feet wasn't really ground.
It was made of fragments.
Old houses floated in the emptiness.
Roads led upward and disappeared into darkness.
Trees stood without soil.
Old Spawn points drifted through the air.
Textures overlapped each other.
Signs pointed toward places that didn't exist.
A piece of an old world slowly drifted past me.
Then I saw a sign.
DELETED
Beside it:
RESTORED
Farther away:
REMEMBERED
I kept walking.
Another sign appeared.
Smaller.
Almost hidden.
ORIGINAL
I stopped.
„You took your time."
The voice came from the darkness.
I looked up.
A figure walked toward me.
My avatar.
But not mine.
Not the one I knew.
Its textures looked older.
Damaged.
Colors faded across its body.
Small errors crawled over its skin before disappearing again.
He looked like a version of me that had spent eleven years waiting somewhere no one was supposed to reach.
He stopped in front of me.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke.
Then:
„Do you remember me?"
I swallowed.
„You're me."
He shook his head.
„No."
A pause.
„You're what happened to me."
I didn't know what to say.
He stepped closer.
„You weren't copied."
„Then what?"
„You were reconstructed."
„From what?"
He looked at me.
„From what Guest 666 could save."
I thought about my memories.
Server 01.
Player 02.
The door.
The messages.
Everything that had suddenly appeared inside my head.
„Why?"
The original Player 01 looked away.
„Because I asked him to."
„Why would I do that?"
He looked back at me.
His voice became quieter.
„Because you knew what was coming."
I didn't want to believe him.
I wanted to tell him he was lying.
That he was another copy.
Another trick.
Another piece of the Archive.
But then he opened a file.
PROJECT MEMORY
An old message appeared.
Date:
2015
Sender:
PLAYER_01
The message was short.
If I disappear...
don't restore me.
I stared at it.
Another message appeared beneath it.
Whatever comes back isn't me.
A reply appeared.
GUEST_666:
I know.
Slowly, I looked at the original.
„Then why did you bring me back?"
He didn't answer immediately.
He looked at me as if he was seeing something he hadn't expected.
Then he said:
„I didn't."
Silence.
A quiet digital sound came from somewhere in the darkness.
„You brought yourself back."
I didn't understand.
Or maybe I understood too well.
„What does that mean?"
No answer.
The original looked past me.
As if someone were standing behind me.
I turned.
Nothing.
When I looked back, his eyes were still fixed on me.
My screen flickered.
PLAYER_01 — ORIGINAL: ACTIVE
Another line appeared.
PLAYER_01 — RECONSTRUCTED: ACTIVE
Two lines.
Two versions.
Both alive.
Then a new message appeared.
SERVER 05
PLAYERS: 2
I looked around.
The original was still standing in front of me.
And somewhere beyond this place, I knew one thing.
I wasn't alone anymore.
A third line appeared.
PLAYER 07 HAS JOINED.
A sound came from the darkness.
Not from my computer.
Not from the Archive.
From somewhere behind us.
One step.
Then another.
The original Player 01 froze.
For the first time, he didn't look calm.
He looked afraid.
He was staring at something I couldn't see.
I turned toward the darkness.
And waited.
POST-CREDIT
Server 01.
Player 03 and Player 04 stood alone on the old map.
The wind moved through the trees.
Player 03 looked toward the door.
„Someone is missing."
Player 04 turned toward him.
„Who?"
Player 03 didn't answer immediately.
Then:
„Player 06."
Silence.
A voice came from behind them.
„No."
Both turned.
Player 06 stood there.
His avatar looked exactly as it had in 2015.
But his face was hidden completely in shadow.
Player 04 stepped backward.
„You..."
Player 06 looked at him.
Then said:
„I was never gone."
Black.
DELETED ≠ GONE
RESTORED ≠ ORIGINAL
REMEMBERED ≠ REAL
ORIGINAL ≠ ALIVE