On the other side of the door is a white void. Hearing the door shut I turn around to see it has vanished. I could still see my body and I was on flat ground, but the ground was indistinguishable from the rest of the void if there was a wall an inch from my face, I wouldn't know turning the peaceful void into one that felt super confining. When is that tutorial guide going to show up?
POP
“Hello!”
“AHHH, fuck you scared me.” I tripped and nearly fell over catching myself as a figure appeared next to me with a comically sounding pop.
“So, you’re the new kid.”
“Yeah, an old man hired me.”
Next to where I had been standing was what looked like a small chubby toddler with short curly blond hair, but its face was completely flat aside from a mouth and a single eye identical to the man in the waiting room, white with a small black pupil.
“That piece of dust is always so stern he has no sense of humor.”
Smiling it then said, “You look a bit skinny working out much?” as it did a loop around me examining my body.
“Are you here to give me a tutorial?”
Frowning it crossed its arms “What do you think this is a video game? Oh, are you one of those people who live their life in their parents' basements jerking off to hentai?”
“What? No what the fuck are you talking about? I was still in high school when I died.”
“Ok, whatever I'm Cecil and I'm your boss you get to report to me. Sound fun? Anyway, we are on the way to the new universe. I am going to guide you through what you are supposed to do on your job.”
Why in the living hell do I get this asshole to tell me what to do.
He then stared at me “You want to say that again kid?”
“You can hear my thoughts?”
“Yes, now either you shut up or I can send you to hell and find someone else to take your spot.” It was very pissed off.
…
Smiling again “Good, now the process for managing a planet starts in its infancy.” it said as it gestured to the void around them the void fading away like mist to reveal a smoldering hellscape. “This allows for an overseer to plan how they want the continents to form, the atmosphere, plants, and sentients.”
It felt like I had been shoved into an oven. The air was suffocating and stuffy, but I could still breath. At least it didn’t feel claustrophobic like the void I was just in.
“Now of course you can’t manage a planet from down here without anything to aid with that although you might fly easier with that skinny body of yours too bad you are still mostly human and can't yet.” Snapping its fingers, a transparent glass bracelet appeared on my left arm too small to take off. “That is what will give you access to Oracle the celestial computer made to assist in planet management. The planet is 1.5 times the size of whatever that world you died on was, but its lower density leaves its gravity the same as Earth, that’s it Earth!”
“How do I activate it?”
“Think or say hey Oracle.”
“That's all I need to do good luck kid.”
“Wait, are you not going to tell me how to use Oracle?”
“Nope.” pop and the little devil left.
…
“What the fuuuuuuuuuck was that.” I groaned. This is not what I expected when I signed that contract. I’m regretting my decision. Looking up into the sky there was a basketball sized silver moon with a hint of brown that lit up the entire valley I stood in. Filling in the sky around the moon was the most beautiful array of brightly lit stars; they looked like diamond dust, it looked like some sci-fi art of an alien landscape. Well, that isn't too far off. Then the sun started to come over the horizon nearly blinding me as it was bright blue. It felt like a freight train of pure heat hit me, stumbling. I ran to a nearby bolder and crouched behind it hiding from the sun.
The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.
“HEY ORACLE!”
“Welcome new user!” a calming woman's voice said in my ear. “Please input your username.” a transparent blue screen appeared in front of me with a Greek temple on a cloud as other clouds passed in the background and at the bottom was a blue solid bar that quickly filled up. The temple then changed to a fancy looking O and flew up into the top left corner as a text box and keyboard appeared. Shit what if I can’t change my username latter. Fuck I can't think, screw it uh... lambda. Enter.
“Welcome Lambda where would you like to start?”
“Can I not feel like I am getting burnt alive!?”
“Turning off semi-realistic feeling.”
It instantly felt as if I had just walked into an air-conditioned room. That’s much better I thought only to look down and see my clothes on fire. Instantly I jumped up before realizing it was not harming me, but I was getting more and more naked. “Oracle can you repair my clothes and make them undamageable?” I don’t want to be naked in case that demon decides to appear again.
“Yes.”
The clothes then stopped burning and rewove and stitched themselves back together in a faint blue glow of light.
“Lambda would you like to start introductory class on how to use the Oracle system?”
“Uhhhh yeah sure start it.” I said while looking around at the surrounding land the valley was made of black volcanic rock bathed in the blue light of the sun. In the distance was a mountain bellowing out a massive plume of black smoke into the empty sky bleached by the star. Oracle's screen changed to the loading screen as it loaded the application.
“Hello overseer, I am Oracle you world management assistant. This short class runs through the basic functions of the Oracle system as your world grows under your nurturing you will gain access to more systems.”
“Sounds simple enough.” I hope. Oracle then shows its main screen that looks empty, which looks like tablet telling me how as the world progresses new apps will appear as needed, how to change the settings, and then other side tools like multiple screens a camera, and phantom mode which is essentially like spectator or noclip I can fly and pass through any matter although it has a charge that only lasts for 1 minute which sucks. Once done with the run-through of the system the first app appears called Garden. With nothing else to do I tap the screen and a prompt appears. Would you like to create a new garden? Yes or no. “Yeah?” I say taping yes. White mist appears again reforming the void but now I have the screen of Oracle to accompany me. The next screen displays a big button that says start.
“Welcome Overseer to your own personal garden this is where you can live and plan out the development of your world.”
So, like the garden of Edden? No that was a bit different this seems like a personal home. I press start and a small wooden table with a plastic folding chair appears 6 feet away from me making the void feel a bit larger.
“This computer is an extension of me but in a computer format instead of a mobile format.” Oracle says.
“Can I add anything else here?”
“Yes, as time progresses more customization features will become available.”
Good I would like to put walls or something in this void to make it feel less cramped. I go and sit down at the computer its already turned on and find a new program named Oracle planet management V12.3. Upon opening it up, a screen comes up for a few minutes with the words calibrating across it. You would think that heaven would be able to make a computer that loads faster but hey what do I know I have issues trying to connect my computer to the Wi-Fi.
Oracle speaks up again “Calibration with the planet complete you can now see the predicted landmasses and adjust them as you like. Please be warned causing too much change has a chance to make the planet unstable.”
That’s good to know don’t want to accidentally turn the planet into Venus 2 billion years in. So earth when I died was something like 4.5 billion years old. So, if I can get living organisms by 4 billion and skip the dinosaurs so I don’t have to wait through all of that.
“What will the planet look like in 4 billion years?”
“Showing estimated predictions.”
A few dozen holographic globes then flew out of the computer orbiting around me. That’s a pretty vague prediction if there are that many different possibilities. Who would even want to change the continents if the end result is still so unpredictable? It's like I'm watching the planet more than making it. Well, if someone is skilled enough maybe they could but I don’t really care as long as it forms into a livable planet. “Hey Oracle if I don’t do anything right now will this planet turn into a livable planet?”
“As of right now the planet will turn into that of one similar to your home world earth.”
No reason to change it then. “Oracle what is the next program?”
“The next program allows the planning of living creatures. Would you like to skip changing the planet's landmasses?”
“Yes.”
“Are you sure once you end this stage you will not be allowed to influence the planet's physical appearance to prevent accidental killing of the populations.”
“Yeah.”
“The next stage involves the planning of living organisms. This you are required to adjust as this planet has a less than 0.0000001% chance of sentient life appearing.”
“Thats low.”
The new app was an image of a white spark with the words below identifying it as Sentience Gen V2.1. Upon opening this one There was a white screen with a black word that said Loading... with an empty loading bar under it.