Prologue
Everyone Gets Their 15 Minutes of Godhood
His fingers slipped from the keyboard, trembling with the weight of his responsibility. Two million souls had already embarked while ten million more waited in the queue, but that number was quickly dwindling. The hard part was done. Their servers should be able to hold, to process everyone who wished to join humanity's last adventure.
The sweltering world outside penetrated the lab walls, sending beads of sweat trickling down his brow. He had not anticipated this feverish prelude to the grand finale, as the world blazed with the heat of what would soon mark its doom.
His team had finished the preparations only minutes ago. All that remained now was to observe and pray the system held. Pray that humanity could be uninterrupted during its last hurrah.
It was such an incredible feat to put all of this together with so little warning. Under normal circumstances, meeting a deadline would be celebrated with his colleagues, usually with a drink. But now, those same colleagues―his friends―had left him behind as they boarded the ark themselves. It had to be this way. Someone had to remain, standing as the sentinel who ensures the system's success, to safeguard this fragile remnant of humanity... To...
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To play God...
A wistful smile crossed his face as his gaze fell below the desk, to the bottom drawer his team wouldn't dare open if one of the higher-ups were to mosey in. He smiled. He had to. This deserved a celebration. But, he had no one to share it with. He was utterly alone.
Or was he?
He opened the drawer and removed a whiskey bottle along with two glasses. He glanced at the screen. Five million down, and another eight million queued up. The higher-ups would have been pleased with the numbers, but their approval was irrelevant now.
A tear traced its way down his cheek. He had done it. He saved them all. It was a fleeting salvation, nothing more than an illusion. In the real world, their existence would be erased in a mere fifteen minutes, but within the digital realm, they would experience lifetimes.
For now, he would watch over them. He would be their God; A benevolent deity cherishing his children. Cherishing every single one of them who he swore to protect. He would not be like this other, fickle God that has grown bored and decided to pull the plug. He vowed never to be that kind of God.
But first things first. A celebration was in order. He turned to the only colleague that remained.
Setting the glasses on the windowsill, he poured the amber liquid as a crimson sky bore witness. In a mere fifteen minutes, he would die as any mortal would, but until then, he was a God.
He raised his glass.
“Cheers.”
“You heartless bastard.”
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