“Whoever created this world put a reset button in the courtyard. You’re going to be guarding it.”

“Reset button? Doing what?”

“Resetting everything the players have made. All the art, buildings, everything outside the walls. Everything that’s been built since the world started.”

“Why on Earth would the creator have placed a reset button?” Edgar said.

Lynch shrugged. “This world’s been around for six years. In all that time, no one’s figured that out.”

The men stood on a balcony, hundreds of feet from the ground, overlooking the world known as Japanese Castle. The balcony wrapped the central structure of the castle compound. A tall, wide tower with seven floors and seven roofs. Narrow windows wrapped each floor, openings from which to shoot arrows at attackers.

Lynch continued. “You’ll be stationed right here as lookout. You see anyone who isn’t meant to be here, you ring the bell, notifying me… and the guards.

“You got it?”

“Got it.”

It was simple enough, but it sounded dull. Edgar had joined Many Worlds to have fun. To build and explore and make new friends. He had just agreed to something that sounded a lot like work. He would do it for a couple hours, at most. Watch the new Avatar show while he waited and watched. Then he would tell Lynch to find someone else to sit around and do nothing.

He hardly watched the surroundings as he watched Avatar in the picture in picture. It was stupid to agree to this without knowing what I was agreeing to. Night approached quickly in Japanese Castle. Every few minutes in real time equaled about an hour in the world. There was a lull in the Avatar plot. Fang Lee was talking to the sages. Yawn.

Edgar looked out from the balcony. Was that something? He looked twice at the same spot of the opposite tower. In the darkness, there was a shape, darker than the dark brown, wood siding of the building. And then it moved.

His eyes widened. Edgar looked at the bell, behind him. Should he ring it? He had just started. What if it was just an animal? What if it was another lookout or a guard? He could alert the whole castle for nothing. The potential embarrassment was too much.

He looked back. There was another shape, then another. One of the shapes grabbed the roof, and lowered itself to the balcony below. There’s no way that’s a guard.

He scrambled for the bell, and yanked on the rope with all his might.

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Clang. Clang. Clang.

The noise shattered the silent night. He heard voices from below. He looked across to the next tower. The shapes seemed to have quickened. One dropped to the stone of the castle grounds.

He looked at the ground by his tower. There were figures with torches. One pointed towards the other tower. The figures drew swords. The guards, defending the courtyard. An arrow appeared in one of the guards, its flight silent from Edgar’s high place. It appeared from nothing, embedded in his torso.

The shapes at the other tower were figures in black. Three of them fired bows at the guards. Four more drew swords and rushed them. Edgar looked on in dismay as the fighting commenced. It looked as though the figures in black had the advantage.

He debated, quickly. What to do. What to do. Stay on the balcony? Log off? The embarrassment- he would never be able to join again. He chose, and rushed to the stairs to the lower levels.

He heard shouts from outside as he descended. The steel on steel of swords clashing. Torch light from below flickered on the awnings of the windows.

It took more than thirty seconds for Edgar to reach the bottom floor. The sounds of the battle had ceased. He wondered if one side had won. He feared it was the figures in black.

He possessed no weapon, nothing. But he wanted to see. He wanted to see what the intruders wanted. He opened the door and stepped outside.

“Stop.” A voice commanded.

Edgar halted, his empty hands raised over his head.

“Stay where you are.” One of the figures spoke to him, sword drawn and ready. Only his eyes were visible, through an opening in the black hood.

“I’m not going anywhere,” Edgar said.

He looked past the figure holding the sword. Bodies littered the stone. Mostly guards. There were four more figures in black. Two holding bows, one a sword, one nothing. They were all watching him but the last. The last figure stepped to an altar. Edgar looked at the oversized red button and knew immediately what it was. The reset button.

“Why? Why are you resetting?” Edgar asked.

The figure by the altar turned.

“That’s years of player work!” Edgar cried out. “Why would you erase it?”

“Emptiness is the starting point for all great things.” It was a woman’s voice. “The ground outside the walls is cluttered. Piled deep in player art and buildings. No matter how good it is, no matter how much work, it has to be taken. Renewal requires loss.”

Edgar said nothing. He watched as she slammed her hand down on the button.

* * *

It had been six months since the annihilation event.

Some motivated players had built. Built from scratch. The landscape was sparsely dotted with art installations and structures. A giant bee. Pixel art of a pomeranian on a billboard. A structure of triangles, one atop another.

When Camella joined, she was awed by the castle and the sundry creations outside the walls. Impressed by the time and effort the creatives put into their projects. Lynch asked if she were interested in seeing the secrets of the castle. He asked her if she wanted to protect the creations outside the walls.

She agreed.

They stood on the balcony, wrapping the central structure of the castle compound. Hundreds of feet from the ground, overlooking the world known as Japanese Castle.

“Whoever made this world put a reset button in the courtyard of this castle. You’re going to guard it.”