Zeroverse
Chapter 2 : WTF?
He woke up in a desert. It was far too real to think it was a dream. This was different, the wind, the heat, the sand under his feet, the red dice in his hand.
What the… ?
He started to panic, tried to find a logical answer. He was still wearing his pyjamas. He felt the dice in his hand and looked at it. Was it some kind of joke ?
He yelled.
"Heeeeey ! Anyone here ?!
Of course nobody answered. He started to walk aimlessly.
Time passed, and the scenery started to change. Remains of building appeared, he wandered inside some of them unable to find any clue about where he was.
"Come on ! What kind of cliche post apocalyptic setting is this ?
He joked about it cause it was the only thing his reason told him to. It was the only thing to do to avoid the fear that grew. He watched his share of post apocalyptic movies, read books, mangas, played games that all had this kind of background. He was no chosen one, no road warrior and even less the only (supposed to be) heir of some deadly martial art. His chances of survival were low. He was a below average 30 yo man, that spent most (all) of his free time watching shows or playing video games. He had no skill or no particular knowledge.
"Meeting a fellow human certainly won't be a good thing.
He already pictured himself chased by some kind of biker gang and enslaved, spending the rest of his short lifespan whored and beat around.
He needed a weapon but everything had long been scavenged. Even the road sign had been taken away, the only thing left was concrete.
Water would soon be a problem to. Was he going to die like that? Dehydrated in the middle of a ruined city? For how long had he been there already?
"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!
He remember the dice in the palm of his hand, realizing he was holding it so strong his hand went numb.
"It has to be it!
Wishing the hardest he could he threw the dice in a backhand.
"Do something!
Of course nothing happened.
It's not the good words. It has to be something else.
He tried again and again, trying everything he could think of with different gestures. Out of breath he realized that was most certainly how the common crazy people of those worlds all started their career.
He wanted to cry out of despair but water was an expense. He wasn't sure it really had and effect, but still he clenched his teeth and pummeled the ground finding himself enough energy to throw another tantrum.
A quick noise made him jump. He looked around but couldn't see anything. He grew scared, thinking of all the noise he made. He sat down and took a deep breath, trying for the last time to find any sense in this.
***
Time passed, long minutes and hours. He kept on wandering in the desert. He wanted to die and figured it would be the quickest way. Problem was he wasn't feeling thirsty or hungry, even if the sun was high in the sky he didn't felt any sign of dehydration. Not the slightest headache.
Come on, is this hell ? For all I know I could have died in my bed, and this would be the afterlife ?
He looked at the dice again. What was the message here ? He raised his eyes at the deep blue sky.
That's when he saw the giant pillar falling from the sky.
***
As long as he remembered he never was able to cover such a distance running. Like food or water, stamina wasn't a problem anymore.
To his eyes it was nothing more than a proof of his status as a ghost.
As he grew closer he started to feel the vibrations in the air. The sand was shaking, as if a giant worm was gonna burst out of the desert.
He smiled remembering how you were supposed to run to avoid catching the worm attention, "in a unstructured way according to random sequences".
He stopped running 300 meters away from the giant structure.
It looked like a giant column. A giant column that was slowly digging it's way in the ground.
It sounded familiar and he was too shocked to move.
That was how the main villain of their game drained the planets of whatever was needed to fuel what must have been his main goal.
He got close to it, remembering the description the GM made of it. The runes crafted on a pitch black metal that seemed to be the only component, the slow pace of the drilling. He remembered what happened to the planets and everyone on it at the end of the process.
"What the… Oh come on man, what am I supposed to do?
He touched it, the runes lightened for a while, but that was all.
"Some kind of sequence huh? With not a single clue? Really?
He touched all the runes he could for a while before taking the dice out of his pocket.
That was the only thing game related, as he approached the dice from the pillar the runes spread themselves and the building opened.
He laughed in relief.
It was a door size space.
A space that stayed in front of him even it the drill kept on turning going deeper into the ground.
There was no other options.
He went inside.
***
Everything was dark, so dark he couldn't see anything. Aimlessly he started walking. Around him he felt the drill moving.
He had to think, remember everything that was game related. He took a deep breath to gain composure.
Those things were used by the main villain to drain the worlds from their energy or whatever.
Once the drilling/draining complete, it was supposed to return to the main villain HQ, where everything would be extracted and processed. And ?
And nothing.
They didn't go far enough for him to know anything more. That was clearly an end game thing. Still he knew one thing : taking the trip all the way was a very bad idea, there was no such place where stowaway were welcomed. He was fucked.
"Come on! Why don't you kill me right now uh?
As if someone answered a countdown appeared on the wall.
In a few minutes the drilling would be over.
"How is it supposed to help me? Thank you! Thank you for letting me know when I'll be dead! That's a relief!
He punched the wall and hurt his hand.
He sat down and waited for the numbers to reach 0, Accepting his fate.
I'm so dead. So, so, so dead.
The drilling stopped at the end of the countdown, only a few seconds later the pillar started to move. It was the same as if he was in an elevator going up. Then the light went on.
He looked around there was no machinery, no nothing he was just sitting in an empty white room.
Again time passed, the elevator feeling changed into an airplane one.
He walked in circles, thinking of any option he had.
Bang!
A giant shock projected him to the ceiling. Something had just hit the pillar, and the pillar was now falling. Falling in space? Was that even possible? His insides were shaking. The fall seemed endless, the changes of pressure made him lost consciousness.