Doublerift. Another one of the five Legends. I knew he'd be here, somewhere in the Liberation's Call Syndicate, but I hadn't expected to meet him so soon.

Considering his past as a world-renowned MOBA player, it was no surprise that he was one of the strongest humans in this world. Someone like Saber, who arrived here with decent skills at MOBAs, had blazed through the Challenges as our leader. Doublerift cranked up that same advantage a thousandfold.

"How much do you know about the nature of this world?" Doublerift asked me.

I furrowed my brows. Maybe it'd be best to be upfront.

"Some," I admitted. "Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond. Those are the subdivisions. When you get to Diamond, you get to go home. At least…that was what I had heard."

"What you had heard?" Doublelift probed.

I thought back hard. I was sure that was correct. And yet, a sliver of doubt irked me.

"Wait, the Truthseekers," I recalled. "They were back in Silver. They said there was no escape. I think. But they're wrong. I met…"

"You met 6E12," Doublerift continued where I had cut myself off. "I am aware."

"...And he had reached Diamond. He told me he had the chance to go home." I wondered how much I ought to divulge. Should I tell them about the vision I had of Alice's memories? Of her and 6E12 in the train, where they talked about his completion of the game? I had seen that, and more, back when 6E12 unraveled Alice's mind in battle.

It had been so long, I had almost forgotten.

In those memories, I had seen Alice as a lonely child, with hazel-gray eyes that bore a vague, quiet weight.

I had seen her as a teenager, programming on her laptop. I saw a window pop up on her screen, and within it was a map with three lanes. Tiny animated stick figures ran across the map and fought. She was making a video game.

I had seen her first friend. He'd work by her side, after school at the library, and late into nights together at her house. He shared her vision for their game: that a million fans would play it. And when she'd given up on herself and on their game, he'd be there.

I had seen the traffic accident that took his life.

The same accident left Alice paralyzed. I had seen her, broken and decaying, in the final moments before her death in our world.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Waiters in sharp suits brought out dishes to each of the dinner's attendees. It looked to be pasta. With lobster. I had brought McDonald's for myself, in fear they wouldn't have prepared for my unannounced arrival, but they set a dish in front of me too.

"I hope the food is to your liking," Doublerift said to me in a soft voice.

I had no appetite to eat right now.

"...Who is Alice?" I finally asked him. "You want to bring her down?"

Around the table, several attendees turned to look at me.

"Sophia!" Kevin the skull knight whispered softly. "We're not supposed to talk about that out loud –"

"It is no matter," Doublerift dismissed him. "We have long worked in secrecy. We've made riddles of our words. But no more. Now the stars are aligned."

What little noise remained in the room fell into a cold, discomforting silence.

"This is the endgame," he said, "and we will speak of matters plainly. Sophia, I will tell you the truth of this world. Listen closely."

The meal was left untouched on everyone's plate.

"This place is not real life," Doublerift said.

He continued, his voice cold and even. "This place is known as the Boundary of Miracles. It exists between reality and imagination, between death and life. It's been around for hundreds of years, if not more. Its workings are simple: It invites in those who will 'almost certainly die', and attempts to give them a second chance at life. In the old days, the Boundary would gather four or five individuals a week. It only had enough power to return one to life, so it made its guests compete for resurrection. The competitions were simple. Things like riddles, or marathon races, or contests of brute strength. A single winner returned to the world of the living. The rest of them passed on."

"About 10 years ago, Alice arrived here. She won a game of riddles. But instead of returning to the world of the living, she made a bargain with the Boundary itself. In exchange for staying, she'd make the Boundary into a better place. She'd ensure everyone can have fun, even those who lost its challenges. She wanted the Boundary to be a place where the games would be as rewarding as the prize itself. And the Boundary listened. It allowed her to redesign the competitions into more and more elaborate death games, until they became what we have now. And yet, the basic principle remains the same. Those facing death are sent here. Every week or so, one player wins, and is sent back. What differs now is the number of invitees."

"It's gone up," I said.

Doublerift gave a single nod. "Alice's greatest flaw isn't that she is cruel or uncaring. It's that she loves this place too much. She wants everyone to have a chance to see it, to see her masterpiece. She wants them to experience a meaningful adventure in the death games before death comes for them. But to do so, Alice massively increased the number of individuals drawn into this realm, bringing in even those who will not 'almost certainly die'. That includes you. You were on a mountain before you came here. You had at least a 20% probability of surviving the hike. Yet…according to the Witch, that is fine. In exchange for experiencing a 'fantastical adventure of a lifetime' here – as she'd like to think of it – you lower your chance of survival from 20% to less than 1%. She thinks it's a fair tradeoff. Sophia, if I may ask, how many friends have you lost to the death games?"

My breath grew shallow.

"A lot," I replied.

"As have I," he said. He looked around the table. "As have all of us. Come, eat. In thirty days, we will bring down this world."