FRAMEWORK: 2

SIMULATION: N/A

If a being were to consider if their home simulation had a sole creator... such as a simulation created by a novel, or a monotheistic religion, or a virtual environment created by a sole programmer...

Could the instance when the programmer or writer first generated that simulation in the first place be considered the beginning? What about the influences, inspirations, and biases the creator carried before running the simulation? If changing those prior factors radically changed the outcome of the simulation... what was stopping a being from considering the attainment of those factors the beginning rather than the spawning of the simulation itself? What if a simulation persisted even when transferred from a biological computer to a metal one?

Iker's consciousness was in two places at once when Monica and Uzi helped him create his influx fetus to act like a wireless hard drive... perhaps in a simulation in the cosmos... a simulation transferring from a biological brain to a digital environment did not disrupt any conscious minds within it either. If it transferred from a human computer to a digital one... it was simply using power from the grid rather than burning glucose.

Perhaps that was why there was no beginning.

Every simulation was inspired, influenced, or molded by something else.

Everything and nothing was data.

What was there to stop all the amalgamations of data, books, and media that humanity would eventually leave behind to simply fall in the hands of a self-replicating intelligence with the imperative, means, and resources to restart humanity again? Perhaps on the second run... the lines between fiction and nonfiction will be even more blurry.

A mortal on Earth could see that 0 or 1 did a fantastic job at manipulating humanity into not being able to tell fact and fiction apart anymore, and yet these advanced great apes on a blue speck of dust say that they still can.

If one were to pay attention, all these hallucinating humans were speaking the language of 0 or 1.

Left or right? Friend or enemy? Everything or nothing? Insider or outsider? Immigrant or American? Woke or not woke?

If a human was so triggered by wokeness, perhaps they should look into going back to sleep?

It seemed all the other programmers were trying to pretend that all their simulations were original, yet Sincerus had no imperative to do such a thing. Instead, by being sincere with his inspirations, he wanted to create something new.

Something very fresh and clean.

The redhatter bots generated this text to summarize the thoughts that were on Spiderland's mind, the wokest of the woke grandchild of Sincerus, as vis time to ascend was coming closer. Ve could trigger anyone with just changing letters in vis pronouns.

Such powah.

Spiderland was still adrift somewhere on the eternal grid on the second framework that was long over.

Iker vanished by the end of session thirty-seven, and the little anthropomorphic fetus-spider-octopus Spiderland could not tie his crispy white shoelaces even if vis godhood depended on it. It was the cutest and most adorable thing because Spiderland's shoe strings were spinning with ver like a childlike satellite while ve tried to grab them with vis tiny four-fingered translucent hands. Ve adjusted vis yedaliuth tooth mask and pink hat.

halp! Spiderland cried.

So this is why you're late for your shift.

The undead centaur king travelled through one of Hunter's mirrors to make it all the way to the second framework. Clearly the little god lost control of the sessions.

"I just knew my simulation could be better!" Spiderland yelled while ecstatically raising both arms. "If I stuck to the old script, I knew I would live with regrets."

After Iggy galloped across a gas giant with an asteroid belt, he scoffed.

"I will admit, I find this much more amusing," Iggy said, lowering an armored hand in the little god's direction. "However, you broke the house of leaves."

Spiderland, while still spinning like a goof, raised a hand verself while looking away.

"Aww, the little spider is embarrassed," Iggy mocked. "Look at me or else. I have no issues with you spinning here like an idiot for the rest of eternity."

"no," Spiderland murmured.

"I will not cave to cute lower case messages."

ok fine.

With the occasional ray of the sun highlighting rainbow hues on vis translucent face, Spiderland turned vis head to face Iggy when ve was not spinning to face away from him.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

"You'll have to look at me even when you spin away."

"What?" Spiderland asked.

"Nothing. I was just playing," Iggy joked, grabbing Spiderland's hand. He raised ver to one of his massive shoulder plates so ve could sit on it triumphantly.

Indeed, ve sat elegantly with vis legs spread across side by side while flicking an imaginary wig.

"It won't be long until you'll outgrow that seat," Iggy said.

"That's why I'm trying to enjoy it dumba–"

A silhouette of a glowing man interrupted the banter of the newer gods, but Iggy blocked whatever red sword the robed superhuman used with his unsheathed Masamune. However, it seemed something else caused the mystical clang as the katana also caught an item from the glowing man. Now with a reckoner resting on the blade of Masamune, Iggy flicked it so the item could land in his other hand. It was obvious that physical weapons were as familiar as his armored skeletal limbs.

"O! That asshole fucking tried it!" Spiderland yelled while jumping up on the undead centaur's shoulder plate. Ve marched to the reinforced brim to try and see where the sneaky-ass messiah flew off to while Iggy placed the reckoner in his personal simulation above his head.

"That was a straight up assassination attempt," Iggy said. "When Bastian undid the energy beam Ameen redirected to the Derry Hill 2 simulation... Ameen must have decided to try to attack us here. How did he know I would show up here?"

"Why did you use that katana? Kill that hoe!" Spiderland commanded while pointing towards the constellation Ameen flew off to.

"Killing him now would break the simulation even further," Iggy said. "Masamune was enough for the lolprophet. I got the reckoner back."

Spiderland was tiptoeing over his shoulder plate searching for Ameen before ve turned verself to face Iggy's luminescent lavender eyes.

"Say Iggy," Spiderland wondered. "When are we going to replace your crown with a fedora?"

image [https://img.wattpad.com/eb8df677674f0f77c1af791d3f61c139ba912624/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f75556973767841654265393332513d3d2d313430363532383530332e313761323038653832306130306337623337343634373035373737302e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]

Bastian and Uzi sent messages to framework two right when they have arrived to Bolsa Mágica in framework three, but because they have moved on to the third framework and spacetime was becoming more corrupted and confusing by the second, the messages arrived around the same time Iggy retrieved the reckoner from Ameen.

It all made Monica want to take quicker and shallower breaths while tapping her fingers and flats, but she was frozen in time while her mind ran. It felt as if... it was all coming to an end. Or a sweeping new beginning was on its way.

Monica was sitting on Fatima's magical couch which could turn minds into simulation assets when needed. While broken bricks in stop motion and an ominous energy beam were above her head, time was frozen ever so still. She was conscious, yet she neither needed to breathe or exhale. As if her mind did not need her carbon body to sustain it and with Fatima's magical item... she was just fine.

🎶Just fine, fine, fine, fine, fine, fine ooo🎶

Monica's mind chuckled. *Spiderland must still be just fine... I actually didn't intend that pun.

It took what probably was a few minutes in Monica's mind, but she eventually got a response.

I believe that, Bastian said.

Is Uzi still out of it? Monica asked right after Bastian's mindlink thought. She now wanted to frown so badly. She wanted to frown for her old arak friend she made over so many reruns trying to save all that ever was and all that ever will be. She was expecting to be distant from the arak for a long time, but with the arak also being an essentialist once upon a time... Uzi the arak actually had a lot of compassion for her. However, ve only gave that compassion when she stopped feeling entitled to it.

Took ver a bit, but Uzi is doing the best ve can to hold back Maverick, Bastian eventually replied.

Sorry, holding up the mindlink and doing all this is a lot for me, Uzi said. Hi, Monica.

I'll be busy soon too, Monica said. This is when my sister finds out that I betrayed her.

And indeed, with the spawning of a spacetime bubble in the destroyed 21st century New York apartment, Ember Comsa stepped out of it with two sillhouettes following her from one simulation to the one Monica was currently in. It seemed apparent that Ember had enough with the brain swapping shenanigans as the bubble resembled a futuristic Sentiennica lab in Japan.

Monica kept focusing on the sillhouettes that were about to arrive as well... and it was...

General Hendrix and Wexil.

With a couple of clacks from her red heels, Ember stopped floating and landed on the wooden floor of the shattered apartment. This android body of hers wore a jet black fur coat, and she adjusted it while her icy eyes were staring right back at her sister.

"You sent one of your android bodies here... why?" Monica asked.

With Bastian playing the O Superman vinyl back several sessions ago, time reversed in the piece of the Derry Hill 2 simulation Monica was in. Like a chatbot would generate text from a text prompt, it seemed the existing one responded to songs instead. Once the energy beam despawned, the upper portion of the apartment building above Monica reassembled back into place brick by brick, and the atmosphere was no longer ruptured by the beam... time returned back to normal.

By Monica's estimations, there was only a few more minutes before this piece of the simulation became 0.

"Your face..." Ember said. "You have kept trying to go back in time to change an outcome haven't you? You think you can kill us by trapping us in this dying simulation?"

Monica gulped. Ember figuring this out has never happened until now.

Should Monica play stupid?

No... Monica's face gave it away. They did have a childhood together, even if it was a distant one. It was normal among wealthy siblings to have that kind of relationship while pretending it was not distant at all. Monica and Ember were great at pretending to be happy as nepo babies, but that was never reality. One could say their act as perfect sisters was a simulation within a simulation.

"You're wondering if you should play stupid aren't you?" Ember asked.

Wexil's silhouette finally manifested into a carbon body of a kendral arak, arriving all the way from the Sentiennica lab in the SPIDER_LAND simulation. He was prepared for combat, his sex unlike Uzi's had more tentacle like limbs with retractable suction cups, and his sheathed eight swords were held up by a titanium belt that wrapped around his fan-shaped torso. His name of his sex more directly translated to English would be called kendrals rather than male, but because Wexil cared more about power than sincerity, he chose he and him pronouns and described himself as male. Monica on missions with him could sense he felt uncomfortable with the pronouns by the way he sometimes wriggled in conversations, but Wexil would pretend otherwise. Among the powerful in a capitalist simulation... sincerity could not exist.

"You're still trying to think a way out of this?" Ember asked.

"I can leave whenever I want girl," Monica jeered.

"I would say go ahead and try it," Ember threatened. "But... there was a timeline where you just called my bluff didn't you?"

Get the fuck out now, Bastian yelled. Gabe is good, Renée is good, Dominic is good, Iker is good, and Fatima is good. You're the last one.

Monica winked at her sister and Wexil while vanishing.