Prologue
So, how did that saying go again? You know, the one with the cat? Ah, yes, I remember, ‘curiosity killed the cat’. It’s a good saying, and very, very, accurate. So, there I was, grabbing a lovely cool coca cola from the local Coffee #1 in Wells, reading yesterday’s paper to catch up on the news, and generally just relaxing on my weekly day off from Tesco (Yay, Sundays! Wooh!).
I was sitting in those nice and comfy, old-fashioned armchairs they have right at the back of the place, and was just placing my drink back on the table, when I noticed something that, no two ways about it, just didn’t belong. A big, bright red, button. It was jutting right out of the wooden table, and no matter how you looked at it, it was just… just… wrong! No other way to say it, especially when I knew for a fact that it wasn’t there when I picked up my drink.
My first thought was, ‘Okay, who’s the funny guy?’ as I looked around. However, there weren’t a lot of people in at this specific time in the morning, and the other customers weren’t really paying any attention to me, so they didn’t put it there. I even checked the staff, but none of them were watching out over here, so I doubt it was them ever.
Looking back at the button – at the time, I was still certain it was a prank – I decided to try and pick it up off the table. I reached down, pinched the edges, and pulled, with… no results. Not even trying to push it sideways worked. It was like it actually was a real button, attached to a wooden table. Now, unless someone managed to sneakily stick something down there with superglue, which I doubted, than the only explanation was that it actually was a button.
At this point, I became curious. If it was a button, than what was its purpose? I debated with myself about whether or not I should push it for all of about two seconds, and decided, ‘oh to hell with it’, and pushed it. At first, nothing seemed to happen, save for me feeling very stupid for pushing the prank-button, when, reality itself seemed to… jitter.
That’s the only word I think describes it. It didn’t shudder, like an object vibrating, no, it jittered, like a graphical error on a computer, except this was no computer. This was reality. These jitters lasted for around 10 seconds, before everything went white. Nothing flashed, it all just went white, like reality was merely a painting on a canvas, and the paint was just washed off, leaving only the blank white sheet.
This whiteness too only lasted a little while, when it suddenly vanished, and I found myself sitting down on a couch in the middle of a near empty room, save for the TV in front of me. Before I could even blink in surprise at the sheer normalcy of this view, a blue box appeared in front of me.
World [ERROR] finalized. Welcome to the ranks of World Keeper. Please begin [ERROR] your [ERROR] world with which you will participate. For options, simply think ‘Options’.
Okay. Sure. I’ve gone absolutely bonkers. I mean, floating blue boxes of text, talking about World Keepers and big fucking [ERRORS]? Bright red buttons that make the world glitch out? I’m nuts aren’t I? “About time you woke up.” Aaaaand now I’ve got voices in my head. Jus- “Hey, I’m talking to you!” No, wait, that’s coming from behind me. I quickly get up and turn around, noting my hallucinatory body seems to be completely non-existent at the moment, and looked at the person who spoke.
It was a woman, about 5’5” (my height) with golden hair (as in actually metallic gold coloured, not blonde) with green eyes. Honestly, if it weren’t for the really pissed off face, she’d be heavenly. Before I could speak (is it speaking when you don’t have a mouth?) she spoke, “Before you do anything, think ‘Options’ and then ‘Body Designer’. You’ll know what to do.” I did so, and another blue box appeared.
Please imagine the body you wish to create for your personal use. This body may be changed at any time through the Options menu.
I didn’t remember seeing a menu, but maybe thinking ‘Body Designer’ right after ‘Options’ meant I just skipped straight to this? Anyway, I set about designing my body, apparently by thought alone, and made, well, myself. Slightly improved, obviously. I didn’t want to start my crazy new ‘reality’ with no real musculature and the beginnings of a big belly. I ditched the fat, added a bit of musculature, to the point of being toned, not a body-builder, and the rest, my height, dark brown hair, and hazel eyes, all remained the same. After I finished, there was a ding, and the blue box changed.
Body data accepted. Please wait while your new body is constructed.
Suddenly my non-existence started to be replaced with reality as my body seemed to flow into being from the ground up, a strange grey mist having appeared around myself and flowing in to fill the space my body should take up, changing colour until it matched my chosen appearance, and then becoming solid. Before I could do or say anything, I was suddenly hit in the chest with a bundle of clothing, alongside a comment from the women of: “Hurry up and get dressed. We have a lot to talk about.”
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The clothes weren’t too fancy. Just some underwear, a white shirt, and light grey trousers, but they were very comfy. Once I was changed, I found myself facing the woman again just as she snapped her fingers, and the room seemed to morph itself into a new form, this one of two – thankfully comfy – desk chairs and a table between them. Sitting down in one of them, she gestured to the other for me to do the same.
She placed her hands on the desk in front of her as I sat down, and then spoke, “Okay, I know you’ve probably got a lot of questions, but let’s get this out the way first. No, you are not dreaming. Nor are you crazy or dead. What you are, is the poor sop that got a fuck tonne of work shoved onto him because your predecessor was a lazy shit.” She quickly raised her hand to stop my interruption, “No I’m not joking. Let me explain. What you have become now, is something called a World Keeper.
As a World Keeper, you are tasked with creating a world and guiding it to prosperity. Once your world reaches a sufficient level of power, it gets entered into what’s called the Keeper Games. During a game, one Keeper invades the world of another, while the one invaded focuses on defence. During the game, the Keepers of the two worlds are descended, and are only able to use the powers and technologies that already exist within the world.”
She paused for a moment, seemingly in thought, and then continued, “The old Keeper of Earth who you now replace was lazy beyond believe, and used his power purely to develop a world with sufficient entertainment for him to be amused with, never even trying to progress to the Games. He even deleted all the Gods once he stopped needing them so that I couldn’t disturb him when he descended to Earth so that he could play games and watch shows in peace!
Recently, however, his laziness caught up to him. Several Crises developed that threatened the world’s existence, if they are not dealt with shortly. His constant attempts at solving similar issues with quick fixes in the past lead to these crises, and now, too late, he realised his method wasn’t working. He was unwilling to restart the world and lose the entertainment he had already developed, too lazy to do a proper job, and also unwilling to use the massive amount of points he possessed to solve the issue, as that would push him into the Games, something he did not want, ever.
In desperation, he looked into all of the rules behind the System that governs World Keepers, and found a loophole, and before you ask, as soon as he actually used it, the System re-configured itself to remove it. Basically it was a bit too liberal about what constitutes death for Keepers. You see, normally a new Keeper is assigned when the old one dies, and if the old one dies when descended in their world by the hands of an inhabitant, that inhabitant becomes the new Keeper.
Alternatively, if they die in the Games, a ‘drone’ of sorts takes there place temporarily with a new world until one of that world’s inhabitants kills them. The part about dying from an inhabitant, however, was a tad too open, allowing for ‘removal from this dimension’ to count as death by an inhabitants hands if the inhabitant is responsible for it. So, he used all the points he had saved up – a bloody tonne of them, by the way – to create a button that, when pressed, would send him to a mirror version of reality that he could adjust at will, without partaking in anything like the Games.
He then sent that button to Earth to arrive in front of some random individual, and waited for them to press it, which you did, which is why you’re here, and also why Earth as you know it still exists. Normally when a new Keeper is assigned, the version of their world that they came from is reset so that they can start anew, but your situation is beyond abnormal, so the System has no idea about how to deal with you, and simply kept Earth there instead. Any questions?”
I actually pondered it all for a moment before replying, “I do have one question.”
“Ask away.”
“Who are you?”
She smiled at that. “Ah, I forgot to explain that to you. I’m what’s called a System Companion. Companions are entities created by a Keeper here in the Admin Room. They are different from your world’s inhabitants for several reasons. First, they’re immortal, and are only able to ‘die’ if you, the Keeper, delete them. Second, you can control their appearance and personalities, and can even leave their personalities ‘blank’ when they’re initially made.
Third, you can easily make them into Gods without attachments to the world outside of their domain – the aspect of reality that they govern – and anything you write into their personality. Creating a Companion without making them a God costs nothing, but turning a ‘blank’ Companion into a God costs 25 points, and a full one costs 45 points. Of course, it is possible to turn an inhabitant into a God, but you don’t control their personality, and they don’t possess as much loyalty towards you as a Companion that you made.
Now, a System Companion differs slightly from a normal Companion. First, you can’t delete a System Companion, and you only get the one at a time. Second, our personalities are randomised, though we are incapable of developing any personality traits that lead us to actively try and kill our Keepers. We don’t necessarily like them, mind you, but we won’t kill them. Our appearance is determined by the Keeper though.
Finally, we possess all the knowledge of the System. With this, we are able to provide aid to our Keepers in using the System and creating and managing worlds, but our advice is also somewhat limited. Some things have to first be found out by the Keeper before their System Companion can discuss the subject matter related to it. So then, with that out the way, how are you feeling?”
I thought for a moment, “To be completely honest with you, a part of me is still absolutely certain I’m nuts. But!” I said, raising a hand to stop her interruption, “I’m going to treat this is if it is real.”
“If you’re so certain you’re crazy, than why do so?” she said with a confused expression.
“Think of it this way, if I’m right and I am crazy, than acting as if all of this is real will get my newfound insanity noticed by the public sooner, allowing the relevant authorities to send me to a mental health care facility and prevent me from harming myself or anyone else. If I’m wrong, on the other hand, and everything here is real, than treating it as such will prevent me from doing something stupid in my avoidance of doing my new ‘job’ properly which could potentially affect the whole world.”
She seemed to consider that for a moment before replying, “You know, that actually seems reasonable. Well then, since we’re going to be working together from now one, I’m Luci.” she held her hand out to shake.
I clasped her hand and shook, replying, “Marcus.”