He woke up… because something whispered his name. Not loudly just enough to lure his eyes open.
He blinked. Wood. Crude planks. A low ceiling.
It wasn't a hospital. It wasn't another boring apartment rental. His stomach growled, a sensation that felt strangely reassuring. Then, the voice spoke again.
"Master… you are finally conscious."
It didn't sound mechanical or robotic. It was warm & familiar. He shot upright, his pulse quickening.
"…Who said that?"
A floating sphere of light shimmered before him soft and pale.
"I did," it said. "It's time."
He frowned, confusion rising. "I… what happened? Where am I?"
The light didn't answer immediately. Instead, it blinked slowly before responding. "You are in your shelter."
His brow twitched. "…Shelter?"
"Yes. You were not indexed by the world system. Others were. But not you."
He opened his mouth, but nothing made sense. Before he could speak again, a memory stabbed through his mind: the social app launch. He remembered creating a fresh community server with a friend, the first post, the first message. Then the server boom thousands people joining. Code, features, plugins were all his custom designs.
Then came the betrayal. The request for admin access from his friend. His refusal. His friend's finger hovering over the ban button. And then the system message: You have violated community guidelines.
He had scoffed and closed the app.
He snapped back to the present.
"…Two months?" he said, frowning. "Wait. Two months since what?"
"Since the transfer," the light replied calmly. "Time continued. The world stabilized. Authority was assigned."
He stared at it. "…Did I die?"
"No." The answer came instantly. "All users who were connected to the application at the time were transferred alive. No physical death occurred."
He let out a slow breath. "So this isn't… an afterlife."
"No."
"Good," he muttered. "That would've been annoying."
He ran a hand through his hair. "So everyone who was using the app ended up here."
"Yes."
"And the world outside?" he asked. "Disconnected. Inaccessible."
He nodded once, then asked the next obvious question. "Then why didn't I wake up with everyone else?"
A brief pause. "You were not indexed," the light said. "The system failed to classify your existence."
"…Meaning?"
"Your Core never initialized. Without activation, the system placed you in a dormant state."
He blinked. "No system prompt," he said slowly. "No welcome screen. No activation sequence."
"None."
He exhaled, lips pressing together. "…So I didn't arrive late."
The light hovered, silent.
"I was never registered in the first place."
"Yes."
He stood up, rolling his shoulders, testing his balance. "…Alright," he said quietly. "That explains the hut."
The light pulsed once. "Yes."
He glanced back at it. "And you?" he asked. "Why are you here?"
"I remained active," it replied. "You designed me to function independently of global indexing."
Of course I did.
He closed his eyes briefly, then opened them again. "…What's your name?"
The glow brightened slightly. "My designation is Sentience Protocol — Sigma," it said. "However, you assigned me a personal identifier."
He waited.
"You called me Silica."
He paused. "…Silica."
A faint smile crossed his face. "Alright," he said. "Then let's get moving."
He looked toward the empty space where a door should have been. "Because if everyone else already settled in…"
His smile faded. "…we're already behind."