Jim
Jim half consciously moved through the hallways with an empty gaze and mechanical movements, his mind snapping out of a string of thoughts momentarily. A familiar path of broken windows, walls and flooring barely presented a way towards the main entrance of their school. School… if you could even call it that. Everything was in place, and it was their school in visual appearance for sure, but empty like that and broken down in illogical ways... it made the lines of reality blur. Not even to mention the never-ending plains of space which laid beyond.
Jim hadn’t talked to the monster while walking, had just followed him through the nostalgic rooms which led to their destination. This place here wasn’t real, so much was certain. It looked real, but it wasn’t. But if that was true, where were they?
The game wasn’t real, that was a fact… but what about everything else? The monster’s statement earlier had gotten him thinking: what if nothing was real?
The lives of all these dead Jim’s… had they been real? Had they led a different life than he had? Probably not, which was even more concerning.
Even if they all roughly shared the same memory with him, would he be just a copy then, or the real Jim? His memories were real… they were all still there, he was sure about that. All these things in his past for sure had happened.
Jim shook his head, attempted to stay focused. The main entrance of the school was now close enough to see. The left half of it was missing, so they could just walk through the hole in the wall next to where the door was supposed to be.
Suddenly, Jim had to think about Anna again. Her smile, her mocking comments, everything. His hand formed into a fist as he dug his fingernails inside of his palm.
I will never forget you. I'll find out what all of this is about, and I’ll make sure he will never be able to hurt you again.
As they stepped through the hole in the wall, the school’s surroundings were revealed.
Countless stars were planted across their sight, shining in mysterious glow far off in the distance. Lights and colours pulled themselves through the seams of reality. It was kind of sad that it wasn’t real.
But somehow, it felt like something was waiting out there.
From where they were currently standing, a single path floated in space. A line of platforms and stairs, floating in place as if gravity had been defied only for them. At the end of it, rather high above their current location, a bigger, round shaped platform floated. He couldn’t identify what was on top, but he could see bits of dirt and grass around the edge of it.
Wait… is that?
The monster stepped forward, made the jump onto the first floating platform. It was made out of dirt with a chunk of grass and concrete embedded into its side. Jim spotted one looking like a present and one out of mechanical parts in the distance.
What is this place? he asked himself.
“Hendrick. One question.”
The monster stopped moving, turned around while carrying a stale expression.
“I get that ‘Sinner’s Game’ isn’t real. Obviously, all of this isn’t reality. It defies common sense and logic in numerous ways. But… your wording earlier was different, right?”
“What is your point?” it asked.
“You said none of us are real. Jack, Anna, me… what do you mean by that? Also, what’s with real-life. Out of the game, I mean.”
The monster hesitated, said, “Does it really matter all that much? Answers about that topic will only make things more complicated. Shut up and just follow me.”
It turned back around, continued onwards.
Jim swallowed. Now he was even more confused that before, even though the monster’s statement also nudged his theory into a certain direction. He looked at the path in front of him, jumped onto the first platform with ease. Jim knew that a single fall would kill him off and let him fall through the endless bounds of space, but he wasn’t afraid of heights anymore. There were much bigger things to be afraid of now.
But there was no time for fear now. Anna… he had to make sure she would be safe from now on, that she wouldn’t have to feel pain again. He would do this for her… and Jack… and Hendrick, the real Hendrick.
And he thought:
Anna…
You won’t have to worry now anymore.
I will take the burden off your shoulders from now on.
Anna
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
---
There was no feeling left in Anna’s body, not even her shoulders.
No coldness, no pain, no emotion. The feelings of touch and sensation had been washed out of her memory. And as everything else melted away in the burning heat, a single picture of her old memory returned. It was of a human… male? She couldn’t recall who it was, but it remained there anyways, fixated like imprinted into her soul, refusing to let go.
Anna had become another piece of the machine. She stood there, unmoving, watching the heart turn and shift. It burst open as a giant arm belched out of its side. It showed exposed bone and muscle, no skin harnessing its reddened appearance as it jerked as if stretching out. Some bones cracked in wet tones.
The heart continued shifting as the hand opened, then started moving towards the hill of gore, which now didn’t look as massive next to the giant hand anymore.
One of the machine’s parts had now obtained the ability to hear the voice of the heart at its full capacity. The commands were loud and clear, and its voice was deep and strong. It told her, no, she knew that it was time.
And all the robots, all the parts of the machine standing in their massive circle around the heart started chanting out, raised their similar voices as the hand grabbed some of the organs:
“Long live the core. Long live the machine. Its hunger will be appeased, and it will grow once more. Long liv...”
The heart kept turning and shifting, and its appearance changed into a bearded face of gore. It had long, dark hair, which was covered in dried blood. Dark, sunken eyes stared forward as a big grin formed on the face.
And as it opened its mouth, and an endless seeming black pit was revealed on its inside, the crowd of machines started chanting in unison:
“Sinner! Sinner! SINNER! SINNER! SINNER! SINNER!...”
The giant hand raised its prey forward for all the parts to see. It was a truly beautiful sight to behold. The factory was about to thrive again and grow, and its reach would spread out to even greater distances.
The chanting continued in a steady rhythm, as if it was the beating of the heart itself.
It echoed through the entire factory and beyond.
And the hand moved towards the omnivorous pit.
As it started to feast.
...
The one, newly acquired part of the machine which just a couple of minutes ago had lost its humanity now didn’t have to feel pain anymore.
There was no burden left to be lifted off its shoulders.
It was now part of a much bigger thing, a great movement.
And even though the picture of the human still remained,
The part would never be able to remember who he was again.
But instead, it would serve a noble purpose and be of great use:
It’s purpose as part of the machine.
---
A few days earlier
Officer Jeff
Jeff saw the old man stretch out an arm towards him. The most of the man’s arm was covered by the black suit he was wearing, but a few white hairs at the back of his wrist stood out. Jeff reached out for the hand, shook it.
“I’m glad to finally welcome you in person, officer.” The old man’s handgrip was rather strong for his age, but Jeff had already found out earlier that the man was pretty sharp. It was a nice feeling having a face to assign the voice to. He had heard it a lot the last few days, after all.
“No… I’m glad I am allowed to work here. I’m honoured, really. The work you are doing at the C.U.A. really is something amazing. And to be shown around by the leader of the company itself…”
“Ah, we are actually still at a pretty early stage of our planning, really. We actually plan on expanding our system over the entire world in the future.” The old man had pulled back, appeared to be searching for something in the pocket of his suit. “How were your first few days here? Did you already get used to it?”
Jeff was wearing the only more or less formal looking outfit he had left inside of his wardrobe. They had given him uniforms for his work, but he couldn’t bring himself to put them on. Something about it still felt weird, being an officer again after all what had happened after his suspension.
“I think I’m slowly getting the hang of it,” he said.
“Glad to hear that. I’ve heard a lot of great things from you, officer. They said you had been the best one around, therefore I did some research and... it appeared our goals align.” The old man’s face hardened a bit, his voice now more quiet than before as he added, “I am sorry for your loss, by the way. Sadly, I have the required experience to estimate how you must have felt.”
Jeff felt his posture tense up a little. A painful memory came back to him. He pushed it away.
“I just want to make sure no one has to go through what I went through in the past. Create a world without any people like that… monster.”
It had been 15 years since that day, yet Jeff was still unable to talk about it. He calmed his temper, forced himself to stay professional.
The old man managed a sad smile. “You are right. These Sinners need to be cleansed.” He pulled out the object he had been searching for: a key.
“Officer, one more thing before you start your shift. The door right behind us is the door to our server room. It is where our program and all the data are on, as well as some other things. You could call it the heart of our company, my magnum opus even.” He held up the key, added, “This is the only key to the room. I carry it with me at all times. Usually, I am also the only one allowed to enter, but since we are going to be working closely together soon in the future, I feel like sharing something with you… in a sign of trust.”
Now that Jeff thought about it, they really were in a shut off place. There wasn’t much around where they currently were, so it must be quite a big room. They were also rather deep down underneath the surface, so whatever was in there had to be extremely important. Jeff looked at the rather odd looking key the man held in his direction, said with a hint of hesitation, “I would be honoured.”
“Splendid!” The face of the company leader returned to a more soft expression. “Afterwards, you can just start your shift like regular. I’m sure you will do great. Just make sure to keep the company’s secrets. It is important above all else. Oh, and… please don’t smoke in your office. One can smell it even if you only walk past the door.”
“I will keep that in mind.”
The old man turned around, put the key inside of the door. Sounds of metal turning and mechanical parts moving inside of the door could be heard, then a light clicking. Jeff felt himself get a little tense, felt for his pocket to make sure something was still there. It was. He felt some of the tension inside of him fade again.
The old man pressed a button next to the door,
and the door started to slide open.
---