Benjamin found himself staring into the sky. The grass below him was cool on his bare skin. Warm rays from the sun seemed to fill him with energy. He sat up and looked around. The well manicured grass seemed to spread as far as the eye could see. It took him a moment to stand up fully. He relished the feeling of the grass between his bare toes.
Something was wrong. Benjamin had a distant feeling of grogginess that only appeared when he focused on it. He took a few experimental steps, but failed to see anything amiss. He tried to close his eyes, but was unable. A brief moment of panic welled up inside and then he saw a dialog box.
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The panic from not being able to close his eyes was still present, however after a few minutes he noticed that his body wasn’t exactly in sync with his point of view. Whenever he shook his head he noticed he could see a set of teeth. It was almost like his sight was linked to a camera that had started to clip through his head. The panic he felt was quickly replaced with curiosity.
It took a little bit of thought, but with time he had managed to free his point of view from his body. There was a sense of vertigo as his perspective swung around and focused on his face freely. His body had fallen and he could see it flail helplessly as his perspective cartwheeled in place. This acted more like an actual camera in a video game. Maybe it would be better if he thought of it as such
It took him entirely too long to get what he now thought of as his camera in control. He could still feel his body, but once he had grown used to the sensation of having a detached perspective he stopped flailing around while he concentrated on stopping his wild camera’s spinning movement.
His first few attempts at controlling his sight had been clumsy. He had managed to notice that his point of view was tethered to a small sphere around his physical body. Any attempt to push beyond the boundary would instantly stop dead at the edge of the border.
He swung his camera’s perspective back to take a look at his body. Benjamin had been shocked at first. He had no defining features. In fact his lack of defining features had become the only defining feature. He still had limbs and appendages, but they were entirely formless. He grew disturbed by the fact he was completely smooth below the belt.
He unhappily focused on his body and circled it with the camera. He thought for a moment about his time in video games. Perhaps there was some kind of character modification. He didn’t think it was much of a stretch considering what he now considered his camera.
He played with shapes, finding quickly how easy it was to form his body. He focused on his blank slate of a face. Short cut black hair appeared on his head. He experimented a little with the length, but then decided to keep it short. He had a good memory of his face and quickly molded it to match. Once he decided to touch up his features; he made himself have a stronger chin and adjusted his neckline.
On a whim he decided to see about growing a mustache and beard. A well groomed beard and mustache appeared on his face. He decided to push it. His beard grew rapidly, curling in upon itself until the weight of the hair pulled it to the ground. His mustache grew similarly, then he fell over laughing, tangling himself in his beard - that only managed to make him laugh harder.
It took him entirely too long to stop laughing at his ridiculous beard. Each time he grew bored with one style, he’d think of a better idea and would switch to that. The whole cycle of laughter repeated itself quite a few times until the amusement wore off. Once it was over he decided to go with a shaved look.
He focused on his eyes. They were brown. He changed them to a piercing violet. That looked good! He pulled his view back and examined his face from multiple angles. His work didn’t really look half bad. Benjamin had become quite pleased with himself.
Satisfied with his face he quickly moved on to his body. Overall he had been quite happy with himself. He only added some slight muscle definition, giving himself a swimmer’s physique. The jeans stayed. They were feeling quite comfortable and he hadn’t wanted to change that. He put himself in a generic white t-shirt but changed the color to Grey. He quickly worked on his junk. It made him blush a little after he finished, so a pair of jeans was hastily added. He couldn’t decide on shoes, so his feet remained bare.
In an instant he snapped his point of view back to his own eyes. It hadn’t really been to different than a character creator. He sat down on the grass and tapped the ground with his bare feet. He leaned back, using his arms as support and drummed his fingers into the ground. In an instant a house appeared. It was his rental. He had willed it into being.
Benjamin raised his eyes and hastily got up, rushing to his house. He looked over his home. It had the same shitty shower, the same awful fridge. He walked upstairs and noted the same squeaky staircase. He was surprised the place had appeared instantly, but he had also been disappointed that all the flaws had been duplicated as well. He decided how far he could push his ability with willing buildings into existence.
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It seemed that everything he manifested had been a perfect copy! Benjamin ran down familiar streets, recreating buildings on a whim. Once he grew tired of running, he found he could pull himself off the ground and fly. As his altitude grew he willed more buildings into existence. He first had the city grown to his ideal, but decided to change it to something that was more based on what had been fact. The city quickly reorganized itself. It hadn’t taken long and it was exactly how he would have remembered it. The places he never visited even seemed exactly as they would have if they were from the actual city. It didn’t take long for Benjamin to grow bored.
Benjamin appeared in his house. He sat himself in front of the TV, intent on watching something. He couldn’t think of a single show. He did have a game console, but any attempt to pull a game from the shelf resulted in an empty box.
He tried to will in another person, but who could he bring to him. Did he have a wife? A girlfriend? Boyfriend? Maybe a pet? Each attempt had been met with failure. He sat on his couch, deep in thought.
He wondered about pulling other people into his city, but the best he could do was create lifelike statues of people. His creations littered his cramped living room. It was no use. They stood in the classic T pose, unable to think or move on their own.
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The messages cleared once Benjamin read them. He hadn’t thought about the judgment. He had been too wrapped up in modifying himself and creating the city. He hadn’t been given any further time to digest what he had been told before his vision instantly went black. Another dialog box appeared.
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Below the text an empty drop down list and a single OK button that had been grayed out. Benjamin attempted to see if there had been anything else that would be visible in the list, however the single entry for human had been all that populated.
So much for having a choice. He thought to himself.
He selected human and pushed the now active OK button.
Notifications popped in his vision, however they had been obscured by a menu. The first option listed was a slowly pulsing button labeled Notes. The second button listed had been Notifications, which was also glowing. The third had been Sandbox, and the last on the list had been a button listed as options. Benjamin went into options. He had vague memories of checking options that had been available to him before playing any game. He decided now would be an awful time to break such a habit. There hadn’t been much in options except various sliders and window customization options. He moved the windows and set a few buttons for easy access, all in an effort to declutter his vision.
His first line of business was to review the notifications. He had modified his interface to display only just a brief message once a new notification had been received and then to have the full message available from the interface menu. There had been a couple of notifications.
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The last notification vanished from Benjamin’s sight after he read it. The first three notifications remained in the log.
That’s odd, thought Benjamin, could this have been the previous occupant? I’ll probably have to keep this close to my chest before anything. I’m still really clueless about this world.
He closed the Notifications window and opened the Notes window. He was met with countless pages of what looked to be hand written notes and sketches. He couldn’t make heads or tails of it and closed the notes window. He felt ready to do something.
He was in a room. Correction, it was a house, or more of a small cottage. The windows were just openings to the night outside. There had been no glass, or even any type of curtain. Benjamin strained himself in an attempt to put in any glass, but a message popped.
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Benjamin dismissed the message and examined the cottage more. He found the heir that a notification had given him. He was curious about the rest of the cottage. There was a simple fireplace with a stone chimney, and on the floor below the bed there had been a loose cover to a storage basement. Inside was what appeared to be a year’s worth of stored food. The colder temperature appeared to keep the food inside from spoiling. He could feel something pulsing from the floor, but he couldn’t find more than just a vague sense of something.
Benjamin had been actively avoiding examining the bed that had been set up in the corner. As he suspected, there was indeed an individual asleep. The bed itself was crudely constructed. It had just been logs of various sizes lashed together with what appeared to be twine. There hadn’t been any finishing done to the wood, nor had there been anything that remotely resembled a mattress. It appeared to be just hay with blankets to dull the sensation of any of the loose straw from poking whoever would have been inhabiting the bed. There had been a figure sleeping. His black hair had been cut short. Benjamin couldn't get a clear look at the man’s face, because his face was buried in a surprisingly nice looking pillow. In fact, as he looked at the bedding, the blankets that the man had been using were also of a surprisingly high quality make.
Benjamin pushed his camera in different angles trying to get a good look at the man. He appeared to be young and also a bit fit. The man must work out in the fields or something. Benjamin caught a glimpse of a faint glow emanating from a small pendant fixed to the man’s wrist with a single leather string. There appeared to be a gem surrounded by a thin, yet intricately carved, band of iron. The more Benjamin stared into the gem, the more he felt as though he was looking into a mirror. Benjamin focused back on the young man. What could he do?
“Hello?” said Benjamin.
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Benjamin paused a moment, and selected yes.